THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


a 


On  the  Trail  of  the  Pigmies 


An  Anthropological  Exploration  under  the 
cooperation  of  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History  and  American  Universities 


J.D.  L.L.B. 
Photographic  work  under  the  guidance  of 

Dr.  George  Burbank  Shattuck 

Formerly  Professor  of  Geology  at 
John  Hopkins  and  Vassar  Universities 

Foreword  by 

ROBERT  H.  LOWIE 

Associate  Curator,  Department  of  Anthropology 

American  Museum  of  Natural  History  and 
Lecturer  in  Anthropology,  Columbia  University 


THE  JAMES  A.  McCANN   COMPANY 
Publishers  New  York 


Copyrignt,   1921   by 
THE  JAMES  A.  McCANN   COMPANY 

All  Rights  Reserved 


PRINTED    IN    THE    U.    S.    A. 


College 
Library 

DT 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE 

INTRODUCTION i 

THE  WANYIKA i 

THE  WAKAMBA 37 

THE  WAKIKUYU 75 

THE  MASAI 112 

THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      ....  148 

THE  WAKAVIBONDO   .     .     .     .     .     .  158 

THE  CONGO 207 

MAP  i 


2040142 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mambuti  women  of  mature  growth     .      .     .     Frontispiece 

FACING    PAGE 

Dr.  Leonard  John  Vanden   Bergh xiv 

Map 

Jungle  Home  Sweet  Home 18 

Village    Life 19 

The  Funeral  Dance 28 

Administrating  Justice 29 

Blood  Drinking  of  the  Wakamba 46 

Types  and  Customs 47 

•  Court  of  Justce  of  the  Wakamba     .     ; 60 

Scarifications 61 

Wakamba    Dances 64 

>  Racial  Differences  in  African  Tribes 65 

Wakamba  Dentistry 70 

Enlarged  Navals  Are  the  Result  of  Poor  Confinement  71 
Gruesome  Method  in  Wakikuyu  of  Disposing  of  the 

Dying  Members  of  the  Tribe 80 

Temples    of    Worship 81 

Wakikuyu   "Ngoma"   Dance 88 

Social  Life  in  Wakikuyu 89 

Wakikuyu   Customs 94 

Professions         95 

African  Types 100 

Propitiatory  Sacrifice  of  the  Wakikuyus      ....  101 

A  Wakikuyu   Engagement 104 

Wakikuyu  Girls  Work  as  Well  as  Flirt 105 

Extremes  of  Age 108 

A  Peaceful  Village  in  Wakikuyu 109 

Masai   Village    Life 118 

A  Masai  Herder  in  Favorite  Rest  Pose  ......  119 

Masai  Beauties  in  Full  Gala  Costume 126 

Just   Wives 127 

Lion  Hunt  of  the  Masai 150 


FACING  PAGE 

Lion  Hunt  of  the  Masai  ....>....  151 
Checker  Board  Scarifications  of  the  Northern  Waka- 

virondo  Women  . 164 

Wakavirondo  Scarifications 165 

An  Improved  Native  Village]  of  a  Wakavirondo 

Mission 170 

Wakavirondo  Savagery  171 

Quiet  Village  Life  in  Wakavirondo 180 

Fishing  Industry  in  Wakavirondo  ........  181 

Blacksmiths  in  Wakavirondo  Working 192 

Housebuilding  193 

A  Wakavirondo  Village  Chief 198 

Wakavirondo  Warriors  in  Full  War  Paint  Ready  for 

the  Funeral 199 

Enjoying  Native  Drinks 204 

Savage  Entertainers 205 

A  "Hippo"  Is  a  Gift  of  the  Nile 212 

Canoe  Racing 213 

Home  Brewing  in  Uganda 222 

A  Mubira  Woman  with  a  Disc  Lip 223 

Making  Reed  Doors  in  Uganda 228 

Royal  Fence  Around  the  King's  Enclosure  ....  229 
Mambuti  (Pigmy)  Family  Reunion  and  Front  of  the 

Ancestral  Palace 236 

A  Mambuti  (Pigmy)  Archer 237 

African  Perambulators 242 

Two  Embu  Belles 243 

Mambuti  (Pigmy)  Mothers  in  Front  of  Their  Forest 

Home 248 

Among  the  Pigmies 249 

Father,  Mother  and  Godfather 256 

Munyika  W7oman  Carrying  Her  Year's  Result  of 

Copra  Roap  Making  to  Market 257 

The  Baganda  Are  Very  Clever  at  the  Making  of  the 

"Lubugs"  Barkcloth 262 

Baganda  Women  Are  Clever  Mat  Weavers  .  .  .  263 


PREFACE 

Unlike  England  and  Germany  the  United 
States  has  never  colonized  East  Africa  and 
this  circumstance  explains  the  relative  dearth 
of  American  books  dealing  with  that  vast  re- 
gion. In  a  measure  the  gap  is  filled  by 
Father  Vandenbergh's  book,  which  presents 
ethnographical  observations  made  on  the 
Wanyika,  Wakamba,  Wakikuyu,  Masai,  Ka- 
virondd,  and  the  pigmy  people  known  as  the 
Mambuti.  A  novice  would  not  have  suc- 
ceeded in  learning  much  during  an  eleven 
months'  stay  among  half  a  dozen  distinct 
groups,  but  Father  Vandenbergh  had  pre- 
viously spent  nine  years  in  the  general  region 
revisited  in  1919  and  1920,  so  that  he  did  not 
need  to  waste  time  on  acquiring  the  technique 
of  East  African  traveling.  In  addition  he  was 
aided  by  a  practical  knowledge  of  one  of  the 
Bantu  languages. 

As  the  author  himself  modestly  insists,  he 
lays  no  claim  to  being  a  professional  anthro- 
pologist and  when  he  presents  a  generalization 
on  racial  psychology  or  gives  a  casual  inter- 
pretation of  hereditary  traits  he  is  merely  pro- 


PREFACE 

nquncing  personal  views  such  as  may  spon- 
taneously suggest  themselves  to  any  traveler. 
The  value  of  his  offering — and  the  same  might 
be  said  of  not  a  few  more  pretentious  publica- 
tions by  anthropologists  themselves — lies  not 
in  the  exposition  of  theories  but  in  the  presen- 
tation of  facts  recorded  at  first-hand  or  at  least 
with  the  aid  of  competent  witnesses  who  have 
had  opportunities  for  first-hand  observation. 

So  far  as  an  ethnologist  who  is  not  a  spe- 
cialist in  African  ethnography  can  judge, 
Father  Vandenbergh's  notes  on  the  Wanyika, 
Kavirondo  and  the  Mambuti  form  the  most 
valuable  portion  of  the  book.  Not  that  his 
chapters  on  the  Masai,  Kikuyu  and  Wakamba 
are  intrinsically  of  lesser  interest,  but  merely 
that  these  tribes  have  already  been  the  sub- 
ject of  monographic  treatment,  which  so  far  as 
I  know,  does  not  apply  to  the  remaining 
groups,  so  that  any  independent  account  of 
these  latter  is  of  proportionately  greater  sig- 
nificance. 

It  is  a  source  of  profound  regret  to  scien- 
tists that  the  African  Pigmies  remain  so  inac- 
cessible and  accordingly  so  enigmatic  a  peo- 
ple. Dr.  Vandenbergh's  report  corroborates 
previous  accounts  of  their  exemplary  moral 
character  from  a  Caucasian  point  of  view  and 


PREFACE 

their  skill  as  hunters.  His  pictures  are  prob- 
ably the  best  ever  taken  of  members  of  this 
race.  At  least,  so  I  have  been  told  by  a  col- 
league who  has  himself  had  occasion  to  view 
Congolese  Pigmies. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  explain  that 
some  of  the  facts  here  described  that  may  seem 
strangest  to  a  lay  reader  are  amply  vouched 
for  by  independent  authority.  Thus,  the 
avoidance  of  the  mother-in-law  noted  among 
the  Wakamba  has  been  repeatedly  reported 
from  various  Bantu  groups.  Indeed,  the  cus- 
tom is  widely  spread  among  the  aborigines 
of  both  Australia  and  North  America. 
Similarly,  the  extravagant  fear  of  defilement 
encountered  by  Father  Vandenbergh  in 
Kikuyu  territory  appears  with  equal  promi- 
nence in  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Routledge's  narrative. 
Finally,  the  description  of  Masai  sexual  life  is 
paralleled,  so  far  as  essentials  go,  in  the  ex- 
tensive treatises  of  Hollis  and  Merker. 

With  its  journalistic  vivacity  of  style  and 
its  excellent  as  well  as  ample  illustrative  ma- 
terial Father  Vandenbergh 's  book  bids  fair  to 
become  a  popular  favorite  and  will  doubtless 
stimulate  interest  in  the  natives  of  East 
Africa. 

ROBERT  H.  LOWIE. 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  books  written  on  Africa  in  general,  or 
on  particular  portions  of  it,  are  naturally  short 
and  vague  in  descriptive  details  if  they  are 
intended  for  purposes  of  scientific  information 
dealing  with  ethnological  data  or  biological, 
topographical  or  other  observations.  Books 
written  on  personal  experiences  of  the  travel- 
ers are  mostly  extravagant  in  descriptions  of 
imaginary  dangers  and  thrilling  events  which 
are  rarely  met  with.  Diaries  are  very  dry  and 
wearisome  reading,  usually  to  be  taken  with  a 
grain  of  salt  when  it  comes  to  personal  experi- 
ences. 

My  own  purpose  in  writing  these  chapters 
is  to  tell  and  give,  as  far  as  in  me  lies,  a  true 
version  of  the  habits  of  the  different  tribes 
with  which  I  came  in  contact,  dwelling  at 
length  on  some  of  the  grosser  customs,  maybe, 
because  they  struck  me  as  emphasizing  the 
grade  of  culture,  or  rather  lack  of  it,  as  exhib- 
ited by  the  tribe  under  discussion. 


ii  INTRODUCTION 

Looking  at  these  peoples  from  this  angle, 
I  naturally  did  not  intend  to  relate  personal 
experiences  among  them  or  thrilling  events 
which,  to  tell  the  truth,  have  been  very  few  in 
my  sojourn  of  ten  years  in  Africa.  But  to 
give  my  friends  a  little  detailed  information, 
to  elucidate  the  scope  of 'and  give  more  author- 
ity to  matters  contained  in  these  descriptions, 
I  might  mention  the  object  of  my  prolonged 
stay  in  Uganda  and  Kavirondo  during  the  first 
nine  years,  from  1896  to  1905,  and  the  last 
visit  I  made  my  old  African  friends,  from  the 
24th  of  September,  1919,  to  the  20th  of  Au- 
gust, 1920,  and  how  I  became  acquainted 
with  their  weird  and  often  disgusting  and  re- 
volting customs. 

From  1896  to  1905  I  was  a  missionary  en- 
dowed with  all  the  enthusiasm  which  must  at 
all  times  be  the  underlying  foundation  of  a 
missionary's  career.  To  do  my  profession  jus- 
ti,  nd  to  make  my  neophites  worthy  mem- 
bers of  the  Catholic  Church,  I  had  to  go  deep 
into  their  customs  and  traditions  in  order  to 
find  connecting  links  with  which  to  make  the 
transition  from  their  former  modes  of  living 
easier  and  more  palatable. 

Later  on,  when  I  returned  from  Africa,  I 
found  it  difficult  to  get  an  unbiased  or  even 


INTRODUCTION  iii 

a  credulous  hearing  owing  to  the  absurd  state- 
ments (absurd  to  my  hearers)  of  the  native 
usages  and  habits  which  I  spoke  of.  They 
were  true  nevertheless.  But  to  prove  my 
assertions  I  resolved  to  return  to  those  parts 
of  Africa  which  seemed  to  supply  most  of  t 
reasons  for  incredul  ty  on  the  part  of  my  aucf 
ences,  and  this  tine  I  wished  to  bring  bac  : 
photographs  which  could  not  lie,  but  whic»* 
would  show  to  the  y  tit  that  I  did  not  overdraw: 
the  mark  or  exaggerate  my  findings. 

The  motion  camera  has  served  my  purpose 
well,  because  I  find  now  that  my  pictures  are 
not  only  "amazing"  and  "thrilling,"  but,  as 
all  the  daily  newspapers,  such  as  the  Times, 
the  Globe,  etc.,  of  New  York,  state,  an  "intel- 
ligent presentation"  marked  with  the  "stamp 
of  sincerity"  of  the  man  who  knew  what  he 
was  going  after — that  was  all  I  wished  to  ac- 
complish. 

The  last  excursion  was  not  as  full  of  "ex- 
periences" as  my  first  nine  years,  because  I 
traveled  quicker  and  with  more  comfort  than 
I  did  on  my  first  trip.  During  the  years  from 
'96  to  '05  I  always  traveled  on  foot  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances.  This  time  I  had 
trains,  steamboats,  horses,  mules,  automobiles, 
motorcycles  and  rickshaws  at  my  command, 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

and  consequently  traveled  in  comparative  lux- 
ury, only  marching  probably  500  miles  in  all. 

The  accompanying  map  marks  the  route 
which  my  expedition  took,  with  an  approxi- 
mate statement  of  mileage,  and  the  mode  of 
transportation.  I  did  not  keep  track  of  dates 
and  must  only  mention  them  from  memory. 
But  for  every  custom  or  tradition  of  the  fol- 
lowing pages  I  can  guarantee  absolute  truth- 
fulness, suppressing  rather  than  exaggerating 
the  details. 

My  sources  of  information  were  of  the  best, 
where  I  had  to  consult  authors  or  living  au- 
thorities: such  as  the  Rev.  Father  Wenneker 
for  the  Wanyika  of  the  Giliamu  country;  Mr. 
Hobley,  author  of  the  Wakamba  on  the  Wa- 
kamba;  Sir  Charles  Elliott  and  the  govern- 
ment reports  for  the  Masai;  the  Rev.  Father 
Caisac  of  Kikuyu  (than  whom  there  is  no 
better  authority  on  the  Kikuyu  tribe)  for  that 
country;  the  Rev.  Fathers  Bergmans  of  Kis- 
umu  and  Stam  of  Mumias  for  the  Wakavi- 
rondo,  both  of  whom  have  made  a  very  deep 
study  of  the  Kawando  tribe;  and  last  but  not 
least,  the  Rev.  Father  Buyck  of  Kilo,  Belgian 
Congo,  as  an  authority  on  the  Mambuti  Pig- 
mies. The  chapter  on  the  Pigmies  is  more 
or  less  a  direct  personal  research,  with  Father 


INTRODUCTION  v 

Buyck  as  interpreter  through  the  medium  of 
a  little  Pygmy  woman  who  had  strayed  from 
the  great  Pygmy  forest  and  became  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Wanyari  language,  of  which 
Father  Buyck  is  the  best  authority  in  the 
Congo.  This  information  is  therefore  first- 
hand and  scrupulously  stated  as  it  came  to  me 
in  answer  to  my  prepared  questionnaire  and 
from  direct  personal  observation  during  the 
time  which  I  stayed  in  that  district. 

The  journey  commenced  at  New  York, 
from  which  harbor  we  sailed  to  Naples,  in 
Italy,  where  we  took  the  steamship  Roma  to 
Mombasa,  the  British  East  African  harbor  on 
the  Equator. 

On  the  26th  day  of  November,  1919,  I  left 
Mombasa  with  a  sigh  of  relief  and  a  radiant 
desire  to  accomplish  a  feat  which  I  had  always 
wished  to  accomplish.  That  feat,  as  I  men- 
tioned before,  was  more  in  the  nature  of  a 
justification  than  a  thought  of  adventure  or 
potential  fame  and  reputation.  In  lectures 
previously  given,  I  had  often  been  criticized 
both  by  my  friends  and  members  of  audiences 
for  stretching  a  point  or  two.  Even  in  the 
course  of  ordinary  conversation  in  which  I 
used  to  'relate  my  past  experiences  on  the 
Mission  field,  I  would  notice  glances  of  incre- 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

dulity  exchanged  between  my  friends,  and 
often  felt  the  pangs  of  the  braggart  whose 
words  were  doubted. 

Here  I  had  my  chance  to  vindicate  such 
mortifications,  because  I  knew  that  the  pic- 
tures would  speak  for  themselves  and  dispel 
any  further  doubts  which  might  arise  in  the 
minds  of  those  with  whom  I  would  come  in 
contact,  for  they  would  show  the  physical  evi- 
dence in  support  of  my  statements.  I  will 
admit  that  in  the  twilight  of  time  which  had 
passed  since  these  experiences  I  sometimes  be- 
gan to  doubt  my  own  memories  and  impres- 
sions, which  might  have  grown  in  the  gathering 
shadows  created  by  distance.  I  was  therefore 
impatient  to  set  out  on  the  long  journey,  which 
I  felt  would  be  filled  with  thrills,  not  to  be 
shelved  and  stowed  away  as  formerly  in  the 
pigeonholes  of  my  own  unreliable  memory,  but 
recorded  by  a  scientifically  certain  register 
which  could  not  fail  to  convince  where  words 
might  leave  little  impression.  That  register 
was  the  motion  picture  camera,  which  later 
disgorged  events  and  facts  which  will  not  only 
amply  justify  my  previous  utterances,  but 
which  will  reveal  to  the  world  matters  which 
I  had  not  even  dared  to  mention  before  for 
fear  of  ridicule. 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

Here  and  now  I  take  great  pleasure  in  ex- 
pressing my  grateful  appreciation  to  Mr.  Jesse 
Lasky,  who  believed  me  and  who  made  it  pos- 
sible for  me  to  give  to  the  world  not  only  these 
records  of  conditions  which  I  hope  my  pictures 
will  bring  home  to  the  civilized  world — pic- 
tures which  may  tend  to  ameliorate,  if  not  in 
some  instances  to  eliminate,  the  hardships  of 
the  natives  of  Africa,  and  which  may  call  at- 
tention to  conditions  which  degrade  humanity 
and  stand  in  the  way  of  happiness,  and  even 
the  most  elementary  demands  of  human  na- 
ture. And  I  would  even  go  farther  and  main- 
tain that  where  the  commercial  world  would 
look  upon  this  venture  as  a  mere  business  en- 
terprise, Mr.  Lasky  seized  upon  the  oppor- 
tunity not  merely  as  a  good  commercial  move 
for  the  company  which  he  represents,  but  as 
a  means  to  bestow  a  benefit  on  peoples  who 
were  looked  upon  with  contempt;  to  promote 
endeavors  for  the  uplift  of  these  peoples ;  and 
above  all,  to  bring  home  to  the  man  in  the 
street  and  the  office,  absorbed  in  business  pur- 
suits, the  magnificent  work  which  is  being  car- 
ried on  by  missionaries  in  the  almost  unknown 
parts  of  the  world,  and  the  almost  superhuman 
acts  of  altruism  and  charity  among  the  lepers, 
the  lame  and  diseased  of  that  dark  hemisphere 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  world  which  has  sunk  away  in  the 
shadow  of  forgetfulness  caused  by  the  blind- 
ing luster  of  our  sun  of  prosperity  and  by  the 
splendor  of  our  social  surroundings. 

To  see  the  affection  and  loving  care  bestowed 
upon  the  forgotten  element  and  buried  stratum 
of  suffering  negro  humanity  by  the  heroic  Vir- 
gins of  the  Cross,  known  and  appreciated  only 
by  their  unknown  charges  and  protegees,  to 
see  Sister  Magdalen  of  Nsambya  Uganda 
bandaging  a  pestiferous  leper  and  relieving 
the  agonies  of  a  painful  lupus  patient,  or  to 
see  Sister  Marcella  of  Nagalama  Uganda  dress 
and  clean  the  most  loathsome  cancer  case  which 
medical  practice  has  ever  recorded — and  all 
this  done  with  no  other  motive  than  that  actu- 
ating Christian  charity  and  the  alleviation  of 
suffering;  to  bring  these  acts  of  charity  home 
to  us  to  enable  us  to  assist  them  in  their  char- 
itable enterprises,  is  a  work  which  a  moving 
picture  magnate  has  performed  free  of  charge 
at  an  expense  which  no  Missionary  Society 
could  have  afforded.  Nor  will  the  scientific 
world  forget  the  revelations  of  great  anthro- 
pological value  which  this  series  has  recorded 
in  a  lasting  form,  which  will  endure  when  even 
such  customs  have  been  forgotten  by  the  prog- 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

eny  of  their  present  devotees.  For  these  op- 
portunities my  heartfelt  thanks  are  due  to  Mr. 
Jesse  Lasky,  who  gave  me  his  complete  sup- 
port and  confidence,  and  his  legal  counsel,  Mr. 
Neil  McCarthy,  of  Los  Angeles,  whose  advice 
was  largely,  if  not  solely,  responsible  for  the 
casting  of  the  deciding  vote  in  favor  of  the  ex- 
pedition. 

The  arrangements  in  Mombasa  for  the  long 
saffari  were  not  easy  to  plan.  Caravans  at  the 
present  time  are  not  so  frequent  as  they  were 
in  the  days  gone  by  when  there  was  no  rail- 
road, and  every  one  intending  to  travel  into 
the  interior  had  to  do  so  by  the  saffari  method. 
It  took  me  two  full  weeks  to  get  things  in 
shape,  and  even  then  I  had  to  depart  without 
tents.  "Chop  boxes"  were  no  longer  to  be  had 
ready-made,  as  formerjy,  but  had  to  be  made 
to  order ;  camping  outfits  were  hard  to  get,  and 
I  had  to  assemble  such  things  by  going  from 
one  store  to  another.  Chemical  and  medical 
supplies  such  as  I  would  need  were  even  more 
difficult  to  obtain,  especially  as  we  needed 
them  in  large  quantities.  For  instance,  when 
we  arrived  in  Mombasa,  the  man  in  charge  of 
the  film  developing  department  found  that  he 
would  need  cooling  solutions  and  fixing  ma- 


x  INTRODUCTION 

terials  which  could  only  be  had  in  small  quan- 
tities, although  they  were  imperatively  neces- 
sary in  the  climatic  conditions. 

In  the  meantime,  my  companions  were  not 
idle.  Although  I  did  not  lay  much  stress  or 
take  any  interest  in  pictures  outside  the  an- 
thropological program  which  I  had  laid  out 
for  myself,  the  scenes  and  tropical  conditions 
of  the  country  were  a  novelty  for  them,  the 
native  surroundings  of  the  people  interested 
them  greatly,  although  they  were  no  novelty 
to  me.  They  took  pictures  to  their  hearts' 
content,  some  of  which  proved  to  be  valuable 
for  the  series  which  is  now  released.  Above 
all,  there  was  an  interest  created  which  paved 
the  way  for  the  big  things  ahead  of  us. 

Personally,  I  suffered  a  great  inconvenience, 
owing  to  ill  health,  which  necessitated  my  be- 
ing removed  to  the  hospital  on  arrival  in  port. 
In  Naples  I  had  been  struck  down  with  an  at- 
tack of  ptomaine  poisoning  which  had  returned 
on  board  the  'Roma,  which  took  us  to  Mom- 
basa. Under  proper  medical  care  in  the  hos- 
pital I  soon  got  over  the  effects  of  this  malady 
and  was  ready  to  undertake  the  "big  trip"  in 
sixteen  days  from  our  arrival  in  Mombasa. 

I  might  add  that  the  tribes  of  which  the 
following  pages  speak  are  the  most  interesting 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

of  the  great  variety  of  peoples  which  inhabit 
British  East  Africa  and  the  Uganda  Protec- 
torate. Their  languages  vary  according  to  the 
family  to  which  the  tribe  under  discussion  be- 
longs. The  Swahili  language,  however,  might 
be  called  the  lingua  franca  of  Africa,  and 
armed  with  the  knowledge  of  that  tongue  one 
may  travel  confident  of  being  understood  by 
at  least  the  more  progressive  members  of  the 
larger  settlements  and  communities.  The 
Masai  were  the  only  exception  to  this  rule, 
and  into  their  country  I  took  a  Masai  guide 
and  interpreter  who  had  served  one  of  the  set- 
tlers near  Nairobi  for  a  number  of  years  as  a 
herdsman. 

Being  conversant  with  Kiswahili,  and  know- 
ing the  Luganda  language  well,  I  had  there- 
fore little  difficulty  in  communicating  directly 
with  the  natives  of  these  tribes,  whilst  my  Ba- 
ganda  boys  served  en  all  occasions  as  splendid 
intermediaries  when  I  could  not  get  an  idea 
across. 

The  itinerary  of  the  expedition  commenced 
from  Mombasa  by  rail,  west  to  Mariakani, 
whence  we  traveled  about  twenty-three  miles 
north  to  Giliamu  and  back  again  to  Maria- 
kani to  take  the  Uganda  Railroad  200  miles 
west,  as  far  as  Kapiti  Plains,  the  starting  point 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

for  Machakos  in  the  Ukamba  country,  28  miles 
northwest.  Thence  we  traveled  by  motor  car 
to  Nairobi  for  60  miles  southwest.  From 
Nairobi  40  miles  north  to  Chaina  Falls,  10 
miles'  marching  distance  from  the  Mangu  Mis- 
sion in  Kikuyu.  To  visit  the  Masai  we  re- 
turned to  Nairobi,  traveling  60  miles  south 
from  there  by  motor  car  and  on  foot  to 
Nguruya's  Masai  settlement.  Returning  to 
Nairobi  again,  we  took  the  train  to  Kisumu,  on 
the  Victoria  Nyanza,  the  center  of  the  Kavi- 
rondo  country,  where  we  visited  the  north  and 
southern  portions  in  different  parties,  going 
south  to  Kisi,  a  distance  of  50  miles,  by  boat 
and  on  foot,  and  north  in  a  circle  to  Mumias 
and  Kakamega,  a  route  of  some  150  miles  on 
foot  and  by  motor  car. 

Leaving  Kisumu  we  took  the  Winifred  to 
Kampala  Uganda  across  the  Victoria  Nyanza, 
where  we  took  some  wonderful  pictures  of  the 
Baganda.  Going  east  80  miles  to  Jinja,  we 
started  down  the  Nile  toward  the  Kyoga  Lake 
(a  distance  of  some  70  miles),  after  crossing 
which  we  traveled  on  land  toward  the  Albert 
Nyanza,  a  matter  of  100  miles,  partly  on  foot, 
partly  on  a  motor  truck,  to  Butyaba,  where  we 
caught  a  boat  to  Mahagi  in  the  Congo. 

Here  we  were  in  poor  luck,  having  to  march 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

the  whole  distance  to  the  Wanyari  village  of 
Zabu,  some  200  miles,  all  the  way  on  foot,  with 
an  occasional  lift  in  a  hammock,  and  back 
again  to  Kasenyi,  returning  to  Butyaba, 
whence  we  took  a  boat  to  Nimuli.  In  order 
to  avoid  the  Fola  Rapids,  we  had  to  march 
again  for  a  distance  of  100  miles  to  Rajaff, 
whence  we  followed  the  Nile  in  uninterrupted 
comfort  of  Nile  steamers  and  railroad  cars. 

It  is  a  peculiar  coincidence  that  the  eleva- 
tion at  Jinja  (the  source  of  the  Nile)  is  3,641 
feet,  whilst  the  distance  from  Jinja  to  Alex- 
andria is  3,642  miles,  allowing  the  Nile  one 
foot  average  drop  from  its  origin  to  its  flow 
into  the  Mediterranean. 

The  climate  varies  with  the  districts  one 
visits,  as  does  the  temperature.  For  instance, 
the  average  temperature  in  Kikuyu  in  and 
around  Nairobi  would  be  little  over  75  degrees, 
while  in  Karthum  in  the  Soudan,  the  ther- 
mometer hovers  between  120  and  112  degrees 
all  the  year  round;  whilst  the  hot  winds  blow- 
ing from  the  great  desert  make  living  condi- 
tions unbearable. 

The  title  of  this  book  is  more  or  less  mis- 
leading, there  being  only  one  chapter  on  the 
Pigmies.  But  owing  to  the  fact  that  there  is 
little  to  say  about  the  Congo  dwarfs  whose 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

history  is  not  only  vague  but  communication 
with  whom  is  extremely  difficult  to  establish; 
and,  moreover,  since  the  other  tribes  spoken  of 
in  these  pages  are  scattered  on  the  way  to  the 
Congo,  "The  Trail"  seemed  to  explain  the 
underlying  motive  better  than  any  other  term. 


DR.  LEONARD  JOHN  VANDEN  BERGH 


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THE   WANYIKA 

IN  order  to  get  a  good  start  without  taking 
undue  chances  I  took  the  party  to  a  country 
and  a  tribe  new  to  me  to  get  the  technical  pro- 
cedure in  good  running  condition  without 
jeopardizing  the  pictures  which  would  form 
part  of  the  main  issue.  This  initiation  proved 
to  be  very  valuable  in  so  far  as  we  happened 
upon  a  few  points  which  were  of  great  interest 
to  the  comparative  tribal  studies  which  I  was 
about  to  make.  And  it  happened  in  so  unex- 
pected a  manner  that  it  is  well  worth  relating. 

On  the  eve  of  Thanksgiving  Day,  1919, 
Father  Wenneker  of  the  Giliamu  Mission  had 
sent  me  his  mule  to  lessen  the  fatigue  of  the 
long  twenty-mile  march  from  Mariakani  Sta- 
tion to  Giliamu.  Just  about  sunset  I  passed 
a  party  of  dancers,  whose  singing,  with  the 
accompaniment  of  the  tinkling  of  innumerable 
bells,  made  my  charger  restive.  I  tried  to 
steer  him  into  the  midst  of  the  dancing  party, 
but  failed  miserably  until  I  whipped  him  in 


2     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

that  direction.  A  great  shout  went  up  from 
the  hundred  throats  and  more  of  a  savage  mob, 
and  the  mule  reared  and  snorted  and  bucked 
to  such  an  extent  that  my  attention  was  no 
longer  riveted  on  the  wriggling  mass  and  their 
awe-inspiring  bell  "jazz."  Presently  a  boy, 
well  dressed  in  khaki,  jumped  from  the  ranks 
of  the  onlookers  and  calling  the  mule  by  his  pet 
name  took  hold  of  the  bridle  and  made  an  at- 
tempt to  calm  my  shivering  mount. 

"Beast  afraid,  sir,"  he  said;  "me  speak  Eng- 
lish very  good.  You  go  Mission?" 

"Right-o,"  I  replied;  "but  I  want  to  see  this 
dance  first.  What's  all  the  row  about?" 

"He  dance  dead  man." 

"Do  they  dance  at  funerals?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,"  he  replied ;  "but  dead  man  no  here — 
to-morrow  other  dance  there." 

And  he  stretched  out  his  hand  toward  the 
north. 

That  settled  the  question  In  my  mind,  and 
turning  the  mule's  head,  I  went  toward  the 
Mission.  The  boy  followed  me  and  I  engaged 
him  in  conversation,  which  led  to  the  arrange- 
ment whereby  he  agreed  to  take  me  to  the  next 
dance  on  the  following  day. 

We  took  our  motion  camera  and  what  we 
snapped  there  will  become  a  record  of 


THE  WANYIKA  3 

Wanyika  history  which  will  be  well  worth 
preserving  in  the  archives  of  ethnology.  With 
a  little  bribe,  handed  out  with  discretion  to  the 
leaders  of  the  dance,  we  got  a  complete  pro- 
gram of  a  dance  which  has  a  deep  meaning  in 
its  weird  movements  and  wailing  songs ;  it  por- 
trays a  great  fear  of  the  spirits  and  a  profound 
expression  of  passionate  sexual  desire.  For 
this  reason  I  repeat  here  what  I  learned 
there. 

The  Wanyika  occupy  a  stretch  of  country  / 
approximately  forty  miles  square,  extending  > 
from  Mazeras  to  Ukamba  station.  This  terri- 
tory is  not  inhabited  exclusively  by  the 
Wanyika,  for  there  are  other  tribes  within  the 
boundaries,  and  parts  of  tribes  calling  them- 
selves distinctive  names  like  Wagiliama  and 
Wakamba.  The  exact  origin  of  the  Wanyika, 
like  the  genesis  of  most  tribes,  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  definitely,  and  an  examination  of  the 
legendary  ancestry  of  these  people  would  lead 
us  far  afield. 

The  men  have  no  distinctive  dress,  but  when 
they  deign  to  affect  clothes  they  adopt  the 
fashion  of  the  Swahilis.  Ivory  rings  adorn 
their  arms  above  the  elbow  and  variegated 
beads  and  wires  about  the  neck  and  arms  com- 
plete the  costume.  The  girls  wear  a  less  strik- 


4    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

ing  chain  with  fringes,  which  serves  as  a  laval- 
liere.  The  pendants  are  of  copper  and  brass, 
being  in  effect  chains  of  one-half  to  an  inch  in 
length. 

The  Wanyika  are  distinctly  agricultural, 
and  they  live  principally  on  maize,  mohogo 
(arrow-root),  a  small  bean  known  as  "pod jo," 
ground  nuts  and  cocoanuts,  mawele  and  ma- 
wimbi.  All  of  these  edibles  are  grains.  Most 
of  the  cultivation  is  done  by  the  women  with 
a  minimum  of  assistance  from  the  men.  One 
may  not  speak  of  "the  weaker  sex"  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Wanyika  women — or,  for  that  mat- 
ter, with  reference  to  many  other  African 
women — for  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  women 
serving  as  bapagazi  (porters)  on  short  saf- 
faries.  Europeans  hesitate  to  employ  women 
on  long  journeys,  but  on  a  saffari  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  there  generally  is  a  majority  of 
female  porters.  I  was  surprised  on  arriving 
at  the  station  of  Mariakani  to  find  that  of  the 
fifty  porters  for  whom  we  had  previously  con- 
tracted, twenty-eight  were  women,  the  remain- 
der being  men  and  small  boys. 

As  I  have  suggested,  the  food  and  drink  of 
the  Wanyika  are  primitive.  Their  chief  diet  is 
the  mohogo  or  Manioc  root,  which  may  be  con- 
sumed raw  or  cooked.  This  root  is  cultivated 


THE  WANYIKA  5 

extensively  and  comes  to  maturity  within  five 
months  after  planting.  It  is  a  nutritious  food 
and  it  builds  up  strength  to  a  surprising  ex- 
tent. The  second  staple  is  maize  (corn) ,  which 
is  not  so  common  and  is  confined  to  certain  dis- 
tricts. Maize  is  prepared  either  in  a  mortar  and 
pestle  or  milled  in  grinding  stones.  These 
stones  are  operated  by  hand,  of  course,  the 
nearest  approach  to  machinery  being  a  set  of 
milling  stones  engineered  by  two  girls.  Maize 
is  a  delicacy  and  receives  careful  treatment 
from  the  native  cooks.  It  may  be  baked  in 
ashes  or  boiled  on  the  cob,  as  at  our  own  Coney 
Island. 

On  our  way  to  the  dance,  I  saw  a  man  sitting 
on  the  ground,  directing  a  couple  of  women  in 
rooting  up  mohogo  (arrow-root) .  It  reminded 
me  of  an  experience  of  twenty-three  years  ago, 
when  I  had  quenched  an  overpowering  thirst 
by  the  same  process  which  these  women  were 
following.  We  dug  up  the  roots  so  that  we 
might  suck  what  little  juice  there  was  in  them, 
and  well  do  I  remember  the  ensuing  gastric 
fever  with  which  the  drink  afflicted  my  old 
friend,  Bishop  Biermans.  I  was  curious  to 
see  what  the  Wanyika  would  do — and  the  pic- 
ture I  had  taken  showed  that  this  gray-headed 
son  of  the  equator  repeated  the  action  of  my 


6    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

old  friend,  and  ate  the  root  raw.  But  I  doubt 
whether  he  suffered  any  evil  effects  from  it, 
like  my  buddy  of  1896. 

Large  sweet  potatoes  are  ubiquitous  and 
popular,  but  beans  are  not  so  plentiful  and 
they  serve  as  a  manner  of  side  dish.  To  vary 
the  Wanyika  menu,  there  may  be  cocoanuts, 
ground  nuts,  pembe  (a  small  barley-like 
grain),  and  the  papali  and  the  mango.  The 
last  two  are  fruits  and  are  sought  after  to  sell 
rather  than  to  eat.  Cocoanut  water  is  a  staple 
refreshment  after  a  fatiguing  saffari. 

The  Wanyika  may  be  considered  vegetari- 
ans, for  meat  is  expensive.  Cattle  are  money 
among  the  Wanyika,  and  they  prefer  to  save 
their  cattle  to  barter  for  a  higher  order  of 
chattel  (in  their  eyes) — women.  Goats  and 
sheep  and  fowl  are  seldom  killed,  for  they  con- 
stitute the  personal  wealth  of  the  natives. 

When  we  arrived  at  Giliamu,  on  the  eve  of 
Thanksgiving  day,  I  was  surprised  to  hear 
a  gobbler  honking  in  the  backyard.  I  turned 
to  Dr.  Shattuck. 

"What  does  this  suggest  to  you  on  this  of  all 
days?"  I  inquired. 

"It  reminds  me  of  what  is  going  on  in 
Poughkeepsie  at  this  very  moment,"  he  replied. 


THE  WANYIKA  7 

"Why  not  here,"  I  suggested,  "when  the 
wherewithal  is  calling  for  the  occasion?" 

I  asked  the  good  Father  if  he  could  let  us 
have  a  turkey,  and  picking  this  gobbler  as  a 
progressive — and  therefore  young — because  he 
was  so  noisy,  I  gave  my  cook,  Simoni,  orders 
to  catch  him. 

Next  morning  we  left  for  a  good  day's  work, 
and  the  funeral  dance  expelled  all  further 
thought  of  Thanksgiving  until  the  big  fellow 
was  placed  before  me.  His  size  made  me  doubt 
his  youth,  and  the  first  bite  on  a  slice  of  white 
meat  confirmed  my  suspicions.  He  must  have 
been  an  old  sheik,  and  before  my  departure  I 
realized  that  two  mouthfuls  of  turkey  had  cost 
me  six  dollars  apiece. 

A  young  pig  also  made  me  think  that  after 
all  the  high  cost  of  living  in  New  York  did  not 
compete  with  the  prices  at  the  Giliamu  mis- 
sion ;  but  then  I  did  not  know  that  the  turkey 
and  the  pig  were  importations  designed  to  in- 
troduce the  breed  on  this  unpromising  soil. 

Cocoanut  water  and  milk  are  important 
beverages,  but  the  national  drink  is  a  concoc- 
tion which  differs  from  the  ordinary  native 
"home  brew."  This  drink  is  the  palm  wine, 
which  brews  itself  over  night.  The  palm  tree 


8    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

from  which  they  tap  this  precious  fluid  has 
widespreading  branches  with  a  small  crown  on 
each.  This  crown  is  removed  and  the  tip  thus 
bared  is  cut  during  the  early  part  of  the  day 
and  is  tapped  in  the  evening.  This  is  a  simple 
and  effective  brewing  process.  The  tip  being 
scraped  to  open  the  pores,  the  wine  seeps 
through  to  the  tip,  where  it  is  caught  in  a  cup. 
The  juice  is  protected  from  the  sun  by  a  little 
piece  of  matting  placed  over  the  tip,  which 
prevents  the  liquid  from  drying  up.  The  na- 
tives relish  palm  wine,  but  I  doubt  whether 
any  white  men — even  the  most  extreme  anti- 
prohibitionists — will  enjoy  it.  To  my  palate 
it  seemed  like  pig's  wash — but  the  natives  im- 
bibe it  copiously  and  become  hopelessly  and 
unmanageably  inebriated  on  their  "liquor."  I 
discovered  this  natural  distillery  quite  by  acci- 
dent. 

Lounging  around,  on  the  first  Sunday,  in  a 
camp  chair  on  the  veranda  of  the  mission,  I 
noticed  a  movement  on  the  limb  of  a  tree  in 
the  distance.  My  curiosity  was  aroused,  and 
I  made  for  the  tree — and  what  I  saw  there  was 
a  novelty  to  me.  I  had  heard  of,  seen  and 
tasted  different  native  brews  of  wine  or  beer, 
but  this  was  a  new  one  in  my  catalogue.  The 
being  moving  in  the  palm  tree — I  thought  at 


THE  WANYIKA  9 

first  that  it  was  a  chimpanzee — was  a  boy  sit- 
ting astride  a  limb.  He  had  a  hatchet  in  his 
hand,  and  a  pointed  calabash  the  size  of  a  quart 
bottle  protruded  from  the  end  of  the  limb  on 
which  he  sat.  I  watched  him  carve  the  top  of 
the  limb  and  learned  that  a  juice  flowed  out 
of  the  bleeding  branch — palm  wine.  I  have 
since  seen  many  such  surgical  operations  per- 
formed on  palm  trees,  but  I  cannot  share  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  fluid  which  makes  the 
Wanyika  so  lugubriously  and  sometimes  so 
maudlinly  happy. 

Wanyika  huts  are  anything  but  elaborate. 
Even  the  palaces  of  the  chiefs  are  tawdry 
apologies  for  houses.  The  picture  on  the  fol- 
lowing page  offers  a  fair  illustration  of  the 
average  Wanyika  dwelling.  The  huts  are 
built  of  budongo  (adobe),  or  grass,  or  consist 
merely  of  a  straight  thatched  roofing  which 
extends  to  the  ground.  The  framework  is 
composed  of  the  straightest  available  sticks 
tied  horizontally  to  a  few  thicker  rods  placed 
in  the  ground  from  four  to  five  feet  apart. 
This  framework  is  made  in  duplicate  so  that 
the  builder  may  fill  in  the  distance  between  the 
two  frames  with  grass  or  adobe. 

The  roof  is  supported  by  two  tall  posts,  from 
which  the  main  rafter  hangs,  and  from  this 


10    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

rafter  the  smaller  rafters  are  tied  diagonally 
to  the  top  of  the  walls.  Cross  sticks  are  used 
to  make  the  surface  of  the  roof  strong  enough 
to  bear  the  weight  of  the  crowning  thatch, 
which  represents  the  greatest  artistic  feat  in- 
volved in  the  building  of  the  hut.  It  takes  an 
experienced  hand  to  place  the  grass  evenly 
on  the  roof  so  that  the  distribution  of  weight 
is  uniform  throughout.  The  grass  remains  in 
place  by  its  own  weight,  except  over  the  main 
center  rafter,  where  it  is  fastened  with  grass 
ropes.  A  small  "veranda"  juts  out  above  the 
walls  to  protect  them  from  rain.  In  the  ordi- 
nary hut,  which  looks  like  a  big  round  basket 
turned  upside  down,  this  precaution  is  unnec- 
essary, and  the  average  native  prefers  the 
"basket"  pattern  because  it  is  easier  to  build. 

There  is  only  one  opening  in  the  hut,  a  four- 
foot  incision  which  serves  as  a  door,  windows 
and  chimney,  all  in  one.  It  is  only  two  feet 
six  inches  wide,  so  that  entry  into  the  hut  is 
accomplished  only  by  a  squirming  process. 
There  is  little  light  in  the  huts,  and  the  at- 
mosphere is  intolerable,  for  the  hut  shelters 
not  only  human  beings,  who  are  unpleasantly 
fragrant,  but  chickens,  goats,  sheep,  and  not 
infrequently  a  few  calves. 

Cattle  come  first,  the  wives  second.     The 


THE  WANYIKA  11 

reason  is  that  it  takes  cattle  to  buy  wives  with, 
and  once  the  wife  is  bought  she'll  keep  herself, 
but  cattle  have  to  be  petted  and  cared  for  lest 
they  be  lost.  That  seems  to  be  the  train  of 
thought  in  the  native  mind  all  over  Africa. 
They  give  more  care  to  a  sick  calf  than  to  a 
sick  wife.  Hence  the  great  care  they  bestow 
on  a  kraal,  or  cattle  pen.  Barring  the  absence 
of  a  roof,  the  enclosures  sheltering  the  cows 
are  better  built  than  their  own  huts.  A  young 
calf  is  kept  in  the  hut  and  occupies  the  center 
of  the  family's  domicile.  Even  bellowing  at 
night  seems  to  be  music  to  the  native  ear. 

There  is  no  furniture  in  the  house  except 
a  few  water  jars,  two  or  three  endekos 
(gourds),  a  stone  tripod  for  the  cooking  pot, 
and  the  paraphernalia  for  grinding  corn,  which 
includes  a  mortar  and  pestle.  Only  the  most 
civilized  natives  indulge  in  bedsteads  and  mats, 
for  the  majority  sleep  on  the  floor  without 
coverings  of  any  sort. 

Sometimes  the  hut  is  partitioned  to  allow 
privacy  for  husband  and  wife.  Two  other  par- 
titions are  made  under  the  roof  to  act  as  a 
granary,  and  a  third  is  constructed  as  a  basket 
or  vat  for  palm  wine.  So  the  "living  height" 
of  the  hut  is  cut  down  to  four  or  five  feet— 
and  the  limitations  of  space,  combined  with 


12     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  odors  of  humans,  beasts  and  the  cuisines, 
make  the  huts  uninhabitable  for  one  accus- 
tomed to  the  niceties  of  white  ventilation. 

We  had  a  bad  day  on  the  first  of  December, 
having  marched  out  for  a  distance  of  ten  miles 
from  the  mission  to  the  Giliamu  government 
headquarters.  We  found  our  trip  wasted,  and 
the  only  picture  we  had  taken  was  that  of  an 
Indian  store,  the  proprietor  of  which  was  kind 
enough  to  offer  us  some  tea.  We  had  scarcely 
left  the  "bazaar"  when  a  characteristic  African 
rainstorm  put  the  climax  on  a  miserable  day 
with  a  terrific  shower,  which  fortunately  over- 
took us  close  to  a  small  native  village.  My 
boy  had  the  foresight  to  bring  an  umbrella 
with  him — more  for  sunshade  than  rain — but 
it  kept  me  dry  from  the  knees  up  until  we  ar- 
rived at  the  village,  where  the  chief  offered 
us  shelter.  And  such  a  shelter! 

There  were  a  dozen  of  us  packed  into  the 
hut.  Dr.  Shattuck  and  I  were  crammed  in 
with  our  boys,  porters  and  the  chief's  staff. 
The  odor  was  terrific.  The  rats  scurried  be- 
tween my  feet  and  climbed  up  the  thatch  im- 
mediately behind  me.  I'd  rather  face  a  lion 
or  a  snake  than  a  rat — any  time.  I  was  sitting 
on  the  edge  of  a  bedstead  manufactured  of 
four  slender  sticks  stuck  in  the  ground  and 


THE  WANYIKA  13 

topped  with  other  smaller  sticks  arranged 
crosswise  and  covered  with  a  hard  cowhide.  One 
end  reached  the  sloping  roof,  being  partly 
stuck  in  the  thatch.  When  a  rat  approached 
I  moved  to  the  far  side  of  the  bedstead,  and 
here  I  had  the  pleasant  sensation  of  dirty  water 
seeping  through  the  thatched  roof,  trickling 
down  my  neck.  I  moved  back  to  my  original 
position,  and  presently  I  heard  the  scratching 
of  the  rat  scurrying  along  the  cowhide  bed- 
top  that  drove  me  off  my  seat  with  a  start 
which  made  me  bump  into  a  rafter  of  the  hut 
with  an  impact  that  left  a  black  bruise  on  my 
forehead.  I  left  the  hut,  and  with  my  boy 
holding  the  umbrella,  reinforced  with  a  blanket 
over  my  head,  I  spent  the  best  part  of  an  hour 
under  a  tree,  which  if  it  did  not  keep  me  dry 
at  least  kept  me  away  from  the  rats. 

Wanyika  mats  and  pottery  are  poor  exhib- 
its. The  Wanyika  confine  their  pottery  activ- 
ities to  the  making  of  the  nsua  or  water- 
jar.  A  half -grown  cocoanut  hollowed  out  and 
mounted  on  a  stick  is  their  only  cup.  Their 
mats  are  extremely  crude  and  scarce.  Most 
of  the  families  are  without  mats  and  only  the 
minority  can  boast  this  adjunct  of  civilization. 

The  villages  of  the  Wanyika  are  very  small 
and  confine  themselves  entirely  to  the  huts  of 


14    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

one  family.  The  father  or  the  older  brother 
is  the  chief  of  this  little  village  and  he  knows 
no  superior,  for  the  Wanyika  are  not  inclined 
toward  the  feudal  system.  Consequently  the 
colonies  are  small. 

Usually  there  is  a  little  stockade  for  cat- 
tle— if  the  chief  owns  any — which  forms  the 
center  of  the  village.  If  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily has  more  than  one  wife  he  builds  a  separate 
hut  for  each  partner  and  the  children  of  each 
wife  live  with  their  mother.  Sometimes  the 
village  is  surrounded  by  a  low  hedge  of  thorn- 
bushes  or  by  other  growths  which  serve  as  a 
barricade.  Where  the  head  of  the  family  hap- 
pens also  to  be  chief  of  some  other  families, 
a  small  space  is  cleared  around  the  main  hut. 
Here  tribal  consultations  take  place  and  fam- 
ily brawls  are  adjudicated. 

The  plantations  are  close  to  the  villages  and 
occupy  as  little  ground  as  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  upkeep  of  the  family.  The  re- 
sult of  this  economy  is  frequently  disastrous, 
for  a  famine  invariably  finds  the  natives  with- 
out reserve  stores,  and  as  the  natives  do  not 
sell  food  to  the  members  of  their  own  tribes, 
famine  brings  wholesale  starvation  with  it. 

It  occurs  to  the  traveler  through  the  prov- 
ince of  Giliamu  that  it  is  a  great  pity  that  a 


THE  WANYIKA  15 

country  so  well  adapted  for  cultivation  and  so 
luxurious  in  its  wild  growths  of  all  sorts  of 
trees  and  grasses  should  not  inspire  the  natives 
to  be  more  provident  and  more  industrious. 
They  could  make  this  country  a  wonderfully 
productive  land  if  they  had  the  stamina  and 
the  inclination  to  work  and  to  produce.  It  is 
another  example  of  the  lack  of  distribution  in 
nature  and  the  need  of  opportunity.  Were 
this  a  white  man's  country,  fortunes  could  be 
made  by  progressive  farmers,  and  there  would 
be  a  market  for  the  staples  of  foreign  coun- 
tries. All  facilities  are  there.  Cattle  fatten 
on  the  bare  land  with  its  deep  carpet  of  rich 
nutritious  grasses  and  herbs — yet  the  herds  of 
cattle  are  small  and  far  between. 

Physically,  the  natives  are  strong  and  mus- 
cular. They  are  of  average  height,  although 
the  women  are  likely  to  be  undersized.  Their 
mental  development  is  low  and  their  intelli- 
gence even  below  the  standard  of  the  average 
African  tribe..  They  are  listless  and  very  hard 
to  move.  They  are  sullen  and  disinclined  to 
respond  to  a  question  even  if  it  be  for  their 
own  benefit. 

They  are  neither  fish,  flesh  nor  even  good  red 
herring  so  far  as  their  morals  are  concerned. 
I  should  describe  them  as  laissez-faire  moral- 


ists — or  unmoral.  There  is  a  certain  sense  of 
shame  attached  to  the  birth  of  illegitimate  chil- 
dren, but  they  overcome  this  obstacle  to  the 
free  indulgence  of  their  passions  by  preventive 
measures  and  abortive  remedies.  Prostitu- 
tion, as  such,  is  not  known  to  them,  but  when 
a  famine  arrives,  the  women  leave  for  the  coast 
and  easily  become  victims  of  their  craving  for 
food,  selling  themselves  in  the  open  market  to 
the  highest  bidder.  The  dances,  of  which  I 
shall  have  more  to  say  presently,  are  not  con- 
ducive to  pure  thoughts  and  in  these  dances 
there  are  movements  which  arouse  sexual  im- 
pulses not  easily  to  be  checked — especially 
among  the  girls,  who  are  of  that  age  "where 
brook  and  river  meet." 

The  Wanyika  girls  marry  just  as  they  are 
coming  to  maturity  and  as  an  argument  for 
their  virtue  it  may  be  said  that  they  usually  be- 
come mothers  in  the  regular  course  of  time. 
This  fact  leads  to  the  inference  that  the  girls  do 
not  over-indulge  before  their  marriage,  al- 
though it  would  not  be  scientifically  correct  to 
say  that  all  of  them  are  virgins  before  mar- 
riage, like  the  Kavirondo,  for  instance. 

As  mothers,  they  are  careful  of  their  chil- 
dren and  seem  to  have  a  well-developed  ma- 


THE  WANYIKA  17 

ternal  instinct.  They  attend  to  their  babies 
until  the  time  for  weaning  and  treat  them  ten- 
derly, even  decking  them  out  bravely  with 
beads  from  their  own  slender  store.  They 
carry  the  little  ones  on  their  backs,  often  with- 
out artificial  support,  and  it  is  curious  to  see 
the  babies  cling  to  their  mothers  with  the 
tenacity  of  a  little  monkey.  (At  feeding  time, 
the  mother  swings  the  baby  around  on  her 
hip  by  one  arm  and  gives  it  the  breast  while 
the  child  hangs  on  to  its  parent  with  its  tiny 
legs  as  it  rests  on  the  hip,  where  it  is  supported 
by  the  mother's  arm. ) 

Losing  a  baby  through  neglect  is  a  crime 
that  a  father  never  forgives  his  wife  and  con- 
sequently the  poor  woman  must  carry  it  day 
and  night  in  the  village,  on  the  road  and  in  the 
field.  For  this  purpose  they  carry  the  per- 
ambulator and  cradle  on  their  backs  in  the 
form  of  a  sack  fastened  around  the  waist  un- 
der the  arms,  supported  with  a  sling  from  the 
head.  To  the  father  the  baby  means  a  future 
helper  in  war  as  a  boy  or  advancement  in  the 
community  in  the  girl  for  whose  sale  in  mar- 
riage he  realizes  cattle  and  goats. 

The  one  safeguard  of  the  morality  of  un- 
married girls  is  the  fear  of  their  fathers,  who 


18    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

look  upon  their  daughters  as  prospective 
sources  of  wealth.  Consequently,  when  the 
girls  become  mothers  of  illegitimate  children, 
their  market  value  declines  and  the  fathers 
have  their  own  methods  of  revenging  them- 
selves. If  the  lover  happens  to  become  the 
husband,  however,  the  "value"  of  the  girl  is 
not  affected. 

Marriage  takes  place  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
or  fifteen,  depending  on  the  maturity  of  the 
girl,  who,  at  this  time,  is  only  an  apprentice  in 
cooking  and  other  household  arts  and  who  is 
therefore  taken  -into  the  home  of  a  sister  or 
the  mother  of  the  bridegroom  for  further  in- 
struction. Her  love,  of  course,  is  not  deep- 
rooted,  and  it  is  chiefly  subservient,  the  fear 
of  her  husband  dominating  her  affection.  She 
takes  matters  for  granted  and  follows  "the 
natural  course"  as  she  has  learned  it  from  her 
mother.  When,  however,  incompatibility  of 
temperament  becomes  too  evident,  the  girl 
leaves  her  husband  and  the  father  must  return 
the  price  which  the  girl  has  brought  him. 
When  the  husband  dies,  the  older  brother  of 
the  deceased  inherits  the  wife,  who  becomes  his 
property  outright;  but  in  case  of  divorce,  the 
older  brother  cannot  recover  the  purchase 


VILLAGE  LIFE 

Village  council  in  Giliamu  Evening  meal  in  Uganda 

Native  store  in  Giliamu 


THE  WANYIKA  19 

price  paid  by  the  first  husband.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  older  brother  usually  re- 
ceives another  female  of  the  family  to  replace 
the  deserter. 

Polygamy  is  the  universal  system,  and  a 
man  may  have  as  many  wives  as  he  can  af- 
ford to  buy.  But  the  prevailing  poverty,  due 
to  the  scarcity  of  cattle  and  the  lack  of  indus- 
trial enterprise,  forces  most  men  to  be  content 
with  one  wife. 

Joseph,  my  guide  to  the  dance,  confided  to 
me,  with  a  broad  smile  on  his  homely  features, 
that  he  was  about  to  marry,  and  with  commer- 
cial shrewdness  he  dwelt  especially  on  the  high 
cost  of  living — of  wives,  I  might  say.  He  sug- 
gested that  it  was  the  greatest  pleasure  of  his 
life  to  assist  me  as  interpreter,  but  that  the  loss 
of  time  postponed  the  wedding  for  as  many 
days  as  he  was  at  my  service,  because  he  could 
earn  no  money  and  buy  no  cattle  so  long  as  he 
was  with  me.  I  asked  him  how  many  head  of 
cattle  he  was  short.  "One,"  he  replied,  and 
seeing  my  opportunity,  I  made  a  bargain  with 
him.  I  was  to  give  him  the  price  of  the  beast 
if  he  would  let  me  be  a  witness  to  his  marriage 
and  permit  me  to  photograph  the  event.  He 
beamed  with  delight  at  the  offer,  and  before 


20     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

my  departure  I  saw  Joseph  the  happy  owner 
and  husband  of  as  charming  a  little  dusky 
lady  as  I  met  on  my  long  journey. 

The  possessor  of  two  wives  is  looked  upon 
as  a  rich  man,  and  the  owner  of  more  is  con- 
sidered a  capitalist.  I  have  heard  of  one  great 
mogul  who  owns  sixty  wives,  and  he  is  the 
Croesus  of  the  tribe.  Once  the  purchase  price 
is  agreed  on  and  a  deposit  paid  to  bind  the 
contract  there  is  little  objection  on  the  part  of 
the  father  to  clandestine  meetings  of  the  future 
husband  and  wife,  and  the  bridegroom-to-be 
is  ever  a  welcome  guest. 

Wives  take  great  pride  in  presenting  their 
lords  with  as  many  descendants  as  possible, 
and  families  of  four  or  five  are  the  average. 
The  childless  wife  is  in  ill-repute  whether  or 
no  it  be  her  fault.  At  childbirth  the  wives  are 
assisted  by  the  older  women  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, but  the  local  midwifery  is  crude  and  the 
results  are  obvious  from  the  appearance  (en- 
larged navel)  of  many  of  the  natives. 

From  a  standpoint  of  culture  I  am  always 
interested  in  finding  out  whether  a  tribe  is 
endogamic  or  exogamous.  Endogamy,  or  in- 
marrying,  traditions  are  naturally  a  manifes- 
tation that  the  tribe  is  of  low  standard  in  the 
scale  of  culture,  because  when  they  marry  in 


THE  WANYIKA  21 

the  same  clan  they  naturally  are  trespassing 
a  first  law  of  nature  which  finds  its  own  down- 
fall in  the  end.  Marrying  outside  the  clan 
according  to  a  certain  law  prohibiting  even 
intermarriages  between  relatives  down  to  the 
fourth  generation  will  give  a  clan  or  tribe  a 
chance  to  proper  out-breeding  to  preserve  the 
race  in  healthy  condition. 

Wanyika  marriages  are  entirely  exogamous. 
There  is  no  intermarriage  inside  the  clans,  and 
the  men  choose  their  wives  from  outside  fam- 
ilies to  protect  the  purity  of  the  breeding. 
There  are  different  ways  of  identifying  fam- 
ilies, the  principal  one  being  identification  by 
the  name  given  at  birth.  I  have  been  unable 
to  find  any  totem  system,  but  the  traditions 
of  the  family  are  guarded  carefully. 

Venereal  diseases  are  not  common  among 
the  Wanyika,  as  one  may  gather  from  the  free- 
dom with  which  they  expose  their  bodies.  The 
women  wear  little  more  than  a  short  kilt  and 
leave  the  upper  parts  of  their  bodies  entirely 
exposed,  and  of  the  thousands  of  natives  we 
saw,  there  was  only  one  case  in  which  the  rav- 
ages of  syphilis  were  plainly  visible.  We  took 
a  picture  of  the  victim  to  show  the  scarcity  of 
the  disease. 

The    women    mature — or,    better,     age — 


22     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

rapidly.  This  condition  may  be  explained  by 
the  fact  that  life  is  all  work  and  no  play  for 
them,  and  that  continuous  child-bearing  tends 
to  make  them  old  before  their  time.  The  men, 
spending  their  lives,  "dolce  far  niente,"  retain 
their  youth  admirably,  so  that  men  twice  the 
age  of  some  women  are  strong  and  well-pre- 
served when  the  women  are  long  since  worn 
out  and  done  with  active  participation  in  the 
life  about  them. 

The  Wanyika  marriage  ceremony  is  about 
the  most  cold-blooded  commercial  transaction 
that  I  have  yet  found  among  the  native  tribes 
of  Africa.  Possibly  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  love  and  affection  involved  as  far  as  the 
man  and  his  wife  are  concerned,  but  the  parts 
which  the  parents  of  the  bride  play  savor  of 
the  straight  bargain  and  sale  across  the  coun- 
ter. You  pick  your  article,  ask  the  price,  hag- 
gle until  an  agreement  is  reached — and  the 
sale  is  then  and  there  completed. 

The  wedding  which  I  witnessed  was  that 
of  a  well-educated  young  Munyika  who  had 
been  a  postman  in  the  Cape  and  who  finally 
returned  to  his  own  tribe  because  of  his  great 
affection  for  his  own  people.  He  returned 
with  a  little  bankroll — which  became  known 
to  the  natives.  After  looking  about  for  a  bride 


THE  WANYIKA  23 

he  finally  settled  his  choice  on  a  young  maiden 
with  whom  he  came  to  a  private  understand- 
ing. When  the  day  for  his  application  to  the 
girl's  father  arrived,  he  entered  the  courtyard 
of  his  future  parent  in  an  ecstatic  frame  of 
mind.  The  father  was  home  and  had  been 
acquainted  with  the  fact  that  his  daughter's 
affections  were  taken  up  entirely  by  young 
Mwangari,  who  was  a  "likely"  son-in-law  and 
a  good  source  of  revenue  for  Mwamkare,  the 
old  man.  There  was  little  argument  in  the 
matter.  As  soon  as  the  father  had  heard  the 
declarations  of  the  lad,  he  summoned  the  girl 
out  of  the  hut,  where  she  was  waiting  anx- 
iously. He  asked  her  whether  she  cared  for 
Mwangari,  and  Kaidza  answered  that  she 
worshiped  the  ground  he  trod  on  and  that  she 
would  follow  him  wherever  he  might  lead. 
With  an  imperious  motion  of  the  hand, 
Mwamkare  waved  her  back  to  the  hut.  Then 
began  the  customary  bargaining — the  close, 
relentless  bargaining  that  only  a  Wanyika 
father  seems  to  be  able  to  indulge  in. 

"If  you  are  enamored  of  the  girl,"  he  said 
to  the  young  lover,  "you  are  showing  good 
taste,  because  she  is  one  of  the  prettiest  girls 
of  the  tribe,  if  not  the  most  beautiful  of  all. 
I  have  always  set  great  store  by  this  girl,  and 


24     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

I  always  knew  that  some  day  she  would  bring 
me  a  good  price.  Now — I  shall  let  you  marry 
her  if  you  pay  me  eight  cows  and  twenty-five 
jars  of  palm  wine  for  her.'* 

Mwangari  was  taken  aback  and  told  the 
father  that  he  had  been  to  a  foreign  country 
where  matters  were  reversed,  and  that  he  had 
learned  to  cherish  a  wife  according  to  the  Eu- 
ropean code,  which  forbade  a  man  to  let  his 
wife  labor  on  a  plantation. 

"She  will  lead  the  life  of  a  lady,"  he  pleaded, 
"and  all  that  she  will  have  to  do  will  be  to  cook 
the  food  which  I  shall  buy  for  her." 

The  father,  however,  insisted  on  his  price, 
and  settled  the  bargain  on  his  own  terms,  for 
Mwangari  feared  that  Kaidza  might  think 
that  he  underestimated  her  value.  His  chiv- 
alry was  not  emulated  by  the  father,  who  held 
out  for  his  price  to  the  last  pound  of  beef,  as 
it  were.  Later  Mwamkare  sent  his  oldest  son 
to  inspect  the  cattle,  which  might  later  serve 
as  the  purchase  price  of  a  wife  for  himself. 

On  the  return  of  the  son  and  his  approval 
of  the  cattle  hung  the  consummation  of  the 
bargain.  The  boy  returned  with  a  satisfactory 
report,  and  the  agreement  was  made.  Mwan- 
gari thereupon  went  home  to  his  sister's  hut 
and  told  her  to  prepare  to  receive  his  bride. 


THE  WANYIKA  25 

The  next  day  he  returned  to  the  village  of  his 
prospective  father-in-law  and  brought  with 
him  a  few  pieces  of  wearing  apparel  such  as 
the  young  girl  had  never  dreamed  of.  After 
paying  the  first  installment  of  five  jars  of  palm 
wine  to  Mwamkare,  the  boy  took  his  wife  with- 
out further  ceremony  to  his  sister's  hut,  where 
she  was  installed  not  only  as  a  guest  but  as  the 
wife  of  the  head  of  the  family  and  treated  with 
proper  deference. 

This  primitive,  cold  transaction  is  much 
more  barbarous  than,  for  instance,  the  manner 
in  which  two  Baganda  marry.  I  shall  discuss 
the  Baganda  wedding  later  on,  but  here  I  may 
add  to  one  who  takes  an  interest  in  the  Wan- 
yika,  the  mercenary  marriage  is  a  dishearten- 
ing institution. 

Wanyika  women  celebrate  festal  occasions 
like  weddings  by  drinking  to  the  point  of  in- 
ebriation, but  they  do  not  smoke,  snuff  or  use 
tobacco.  The  men  enjoy  snuff  not  only  as  it 
is  used  by  more  civilized  races,  but  as  a  "chew." 
As  I  have  pointed  out,  the  natives  are  addicted 
to  stimulants,  but  here  again  poverty  is  the 
mother  of  continence.  Their  lack  of  resources 
prevents  much  indulgence  in  their  pet  vices. 

There  are  but  few  tribal  marks  among  the 
Wanyika.  Some  natives,  especially  among 


26     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  younger  generations,  have  none  at  all. 
Others  have  the  two  lower  center  front  teeth 
removed  and  the  corresponding  upper  teeth 
filed  in  the  form  of  an  inverted  V.  They 
pierce  the  ears,  but  the  aperture  never  is 
greater  than  the  width  of  one  of  our  five-cent 
pieces.  At  the  age  of  three,  boys  are  circum- 
cised, and  at  the  age  of  eight,  the  dental  oper- 
ations referred  to  above  are  made.  But  the 
markings,  which  are  a  form  of  crude  pagan- 
ism, seem  to  be  dying  out  in  the  present  gen- 
eration. 

Superstition  and  forms  of  idolatry  are  ex- 
tremely interesting  to  me,  and  there  is  a  vari- 
ety of  these  practices  in  Africa  which  is 
astounding.  Sun,  moon  and  star  worshipers, 
which  the  natives  all  are  to  a  certain  extent, 
are  to  me  the  most  logical  phenomena  in 
Africa.  Realizing  that  there  is  no  mode  of 
lighting  up  at  night,  they  naturally  would  wel- 
come the  dawning  sun  in  the  morning,  which 
comes  to  them  as  a  redeemer  to  expel  all  the 
terrors  and  dangers  of  darkness,  or  the  moon, 
which  enables  them  to  at  least  go  outside  their 
huts  without  being  pounced  upon  by  some 
wild  beast  which  may  be  hiding  within  arm's 
reach.  In  the  early  days  of  1896,  when  I  first 
touched  African  soil,  and  I  saw  the  porters  in 


THE  WANYIKA  27 

the  caravan  offering  incense  on  their  little 
amulet  pallets  to  a  new  crescent  moon,  I 
thought  the  worship  foolish;  but  now,  know- 
ing the  danger  of  the  night  through  a  long  ex- 
perience, it  looks  to  me  like  the  most  logical 
thing  for  them  to  do  to  hail  the  coming  of 
light  the  savior.  Other  systems,  of  course,  are 
stupid  and  silly,  and  in  a  great  many  cases 
harmful,  but  even  there  some  extenuation  of 
their  traditions  can  always  be  found. 

The  Wanyika  have  little  superstition  or 
idolatry,  although  there  are  certain  animals 
which  are  sacred  and  immune  from  slaughter. 
The  chief  object  of  this  immunity  is  the  hyena, 
which  is  never  molested,  and  whenever  a  black 
calf  is  born  the  natives  cover  its  head  with  a 
box,  tie  the  helpless  animal  to  a  tree  and  offer 
it  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  first  hyena  which  may 
find  it. 

The  spirits  of  the  ancestors  and  of  persons 
who  have  died  recently  are  fed  according  to 
the  primitive  animistic  ritual.  The  Wanyika 
dig  a  hole  in  the  ground  and  place  half  a  gourd 
in  it.  They  pour  cocoanut  milk  in  the  gourd, 
mixing  it  with  water,  adding  some  food,  such 
as  flour  or  meat,  and  leave  the  offering  for  the 
nourishment  of  the  departed  spirit.  The  spirit 
is  summoned  by  a  series  of  incantations.  Only 


28     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

those  who  were  respected  are  honored  with  this 
ceremony  and  with  the  funeral  dance,  which  I 
shall  describe  presently.  Others  are  merely 
placed  in  the  ground  in  front  of  the  hut,  to 
pass  forever  out  of  memory. 

On  our  way  up  to  Giliamu  we  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  observe  a  dance  which  was  being  in- 
dulged in  by  the  Wanyika,  and  in  which  we 
found  that  only  men  participated.  There  was 
a  chorus  of  about  a  hundred  children,  ranging 
from  ten  to  fifteen  years  in  age,  some  of  whom 
were  girls.  However,  there  is  a  dance,  known 
as  the  matanga,  in  which  both  sexes  take  part. 
This  is  the  funeral  dance,  which  is  done  only 
when  a  member  of  the  tribe  has  died.  It  is 
attended  by  ceremonies  designed  to  expel  evil 
spirits.  First,  a  white  cloth  flag  is  placed  on 
a  stick  at  the  hut  of  the  departed  tribesman. 
In  the  dance,  the  leading  dancer  wears  a  red 
sash  about  his  waist,  to  which  a  spiritual  sig- 
nificance is  attached.  This  man  works  him- 
self into  a  frenzy,  until  he  finally  runs  wild  in 
the  semicircle  of  the  dancers,  and  after  making 
fearful  grimaces  and  performing  astounding 
antics,  he  finishes  the  dance  with  a  wild  leap 
in  the  air.  In  this  last  evolution  he  holds  the 
sash  and  places  a  straight  kick  in  the  stomach 


Uganda  trial. 


ADMINISTERING  JUSTICE 
Ordeal  in  Ukamba  called  Kithito. 

The  winning  party  rolls  his  thanks  in  the  dust  at 
the  judges  feet 


THE  WANYIKA  29 

of  the  imaginary  evil  spirit  to  drive  him  for  all 
time  from  the  premises. 

The  first  dance  which  we  saw  was  most  fan- 
tastic. The  men  were  divided  into  three  classes 
of  dancers.  The  first  and  largest  class  wore 
a  legging  on  one  leg,  composed  of  bells  very 
similar  to  our  sleighbells,  fitted  on  strips  of 
rawhide  which  form  a  harness  bound  tightly 
around  the  right  leg  from  ankle  to  hip.  They 
move  the  leg  provided  with  this  ringing  ap- 
paratus at  a  given  cadence  of  singing,  which 
is  done  by  the  choir  of  children.  The  second 
section  of  dancers  runs  around  like  so  many 
demons  through  the  onlookers  and  dancers, 
jumping  high  every  now  and  then  with  a 
weird  shout,  while  they  shake  their  heads  as 
though  they  would  rise  higher — or  as  though 
they  had  been  stung  by  an  electric  shock.  They 
wear  a  headdress  of  long,  flowing  monkey 
skins,  and  carry  a  wand  in  the  right  hand, 
which  they  shake  at  intervals  as  though  at- 
tacking an  invisible  enemy. 

There  are  leaders  who  act  as  "ma j  ores 
domi,"  with  authority  to  direct  and  to  bring 
into  line  those  who  seem  about  to  fall  out. 
These  also  carry  whips  with  which  they  drive 
off  the  too  inquisitive  spectators  who  might  in- 


30    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

terfere  with  the  gyrations  of  the  dancers  and 
with  which  they  keep  the  dancers  in  order.  The 
dance  moves  sidewise,  bearing  to  the  right 
with  a  slow  and  graceful  movement.  The 
dancers  keep  time  with  the  music  so  well  that 
one  cannot  refrain  from  applause  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  performance.  The  music  supplied 
by  many  little  children's  voices  gives  an  air  of 
naive  innocence  to  the  dance,  and  the  young- 
sters stand  together  as  they  sing,  with  their 
hands  on  one  another's  shoulders,  moving  on 
four  abreast,  with  just  a  hint  of  swaying. 

The  dancers  evidently  are  picked  members 
of  the  tribe,  for  they  are  conscious  of  the  honor 
bestowed  upon  them,  and  move  without  a  false 
step.  While  the  trained  dancers  were  going 
through  their  movements,  a  band  of  young 
men  were  going  through  the  same  evolutions, 
being  guided  by  the  master  dancer,  who  or- 
dered them  about  like  a  drill  sergeant.  These 
novices  would  glance  at  the  "professionals" 
whenever  there  was  an  opening  through  which 
they  could  watch  them. 

They  looked  on  with  that  hungry  ambition 
which  seemed  to  say,  "Wait  till  I  get  in  that 
line!"  They  had  to  practice  almost  against 
the  music,  for  whenever  a  "faux  pas"  occurred 
the  step  was  repeated,  regardless  of  the 


THE  WANYIKA  31 

rhythms  supplied  by  the  children.  And  the 
most  curious  feature  of  the  ceremony  was  that 
there  was  not  a  woman  participating  or  look- 
ing on  in  the  crowd  of  at  least  thiee  hundred 
persons. 

'The  Wanyika  begin  their  training  for  this 
dance  at  an  early  age,  for  I  found  that  even 
youngsters  of  five  or  six  are  trained  religiously 
to  become  members  of  the  guild  from  which 
the  "professional"  dancers  are  selected.  In 
the  place  of  the  gaudy  leg  chains  which  form 
the  principal  decoration  of  the  older  dancers, 
the  children  have  a  poor  substitute  in  the  shape 
of  a  chain  made  of  mango  stones  which  are 
strung  on  a  bit  of  copra  and  wound  around  the 
lower  part  of  the  leg  with  one  loop  fixed  about 
the  big  toe  and  the  other  tied  about  the  calf. 
It  is  not  much  of  an  imitation  of  the  real  thing, 
but  it  keeps  the  youngsters  lively  and  in  good 
trim.  The  more  they  wriggle  their  legs,  the 
better  they  seem  to  keep  time,  and  they  seem 
to  enjoy  their  performance  as  though  it  were 
their  life's  task.  The  dancing  teacher  also 
seems  to  relish  his  duties,  for  he  acts  in  a  whole- 
hearted manner,  as  though  he  were  dancing 
with  his  equals.  His  standards  with  the  chil- 
dren seem  to  be  fully  as  rigid  as  though  he 
were  teaching  a  group  of  professionals. 


32     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

Girls  are  permitted  to  participate  in  the 
dance  of  the  boys.    At  first  they  are  obviously 
coy  and  bashful,  as  though  they  were  on  for- 
bidden ground,  but  once  the  dance  is  in  full 
swing  they  have  to  be  restrained  from  making 
advances  to  the  young  lads.     They  make  a 
striking  effect  with  their  thin  calico  skirts, 
which  have  double  or  triple  fringes,  according 
to  the  wealth  of  the  girl's  family.    These  con- 
cessions to  modesty  are  from  three  to  nine 
inches  in  length  and  do  not  extend  far  down 
the  thigh.    Beyond  the  swaying  skirt,  the  girls 
are  not  particular  about  their  costumes,  for 
they  are  rather  fond  of  exhibiting  the  pretty 
figures  to  which  many  of  them  lay  claim. 
-  The  funeral  dance,  of  which  I  saw  a  sample 
on  the  29th  of  November,  was  a  revelation  and 
raised  the  Wanyika  in  my  estimation.     Why 
they  should  thus  mourn  their  dead  is  still  a 
puzzle  to  me,  but  the  dance  brings  out  some 
of  the  most  artistic  evolutions  that  I  have  ever 
seen.     The  graceful,  rhythmic  swaying  of  the 
men's  bodies  is  marvelous,  well  studied  and 
carefully  executed.   ^The  same  rattling  har- 
ness described  previously  is  worn  at  the  funeral 
dance,  and  part  of  the  dancing  is  the  same  so 
far  as  the  men  are  concerned.    The  novel  addi- 
tion is  the  wiggling  and  wriggling — I  cannot 


THE  WANYIKA  33 

define  it  otherwise — of  the  couples  when  they 
meet  for  a  set.  It  may  sound  curious  to  the 
American  mind,  but  it  is  only  in  harmony  with 
the  native  customs  all  over  Africa  that  the 
women  do  the  calling  here,  showing  that  the 
woman  is  the  slave,  always  catering  to  man, 
her  master. 

The  sets,  of  which  there  may  be  two  or  three, 
are  made  up  of  picked  male  dancers,  all  tall 
and  well-built  men,  and  girls  of  from  twelve 
to  sixteen,  whose  wool-topped  heads  barely 
reach  the  chins  of  their  partners.  The  men 
sing  a  weird  song,  telling  of  the  sad  death  of 
the  subject  of  the  "wake,"  and  ask  the  girls 
to  join  them  in  bewailing  the  sad  departure, 
reminding  them  that  when  a  person  dies  there 
must  be  a  substitute  to  replace  the  deceased, 
lest  the  tribe  perish.  In  answer  to  these  tact- 
ful overtures  the  girls  glance  at  one  another 
coyly  and  diffidently  from  their  place,  which 
is  about  fifty  feet  removed  from  the  line  of 
men.  The  men  resume  their  exhortations  and 
the  maidens  walk  up  to  the  line  of  men.  They 
do  not  speak  on  their  arrival  and  make  only 
the  slightest  courtesy,  after  which  they  return 
to  their  previous  position. 

The  men  then  begin  a  snake-like  motion  of 
the  body,  and  with  two  taps  of  the  armored 


34     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

leg  for  every  one  of  the  unadorned  mate,  they 
advance  toward  the  women,  with  all  the  ben- 
efits to  be  derived  from  the  jingling  of  the 
bells.     Approaching  the  line  of  maidens,  the 
men  allure  the  fair  ones  with  a  most  intriguing 
execution  of  a  most  captivating  pass,  after 
which  each  faces  a  partner,  who  bows  a  bashful 
assent  to  the  invitation.    Thereupon  the  man 
lays  his  chin  on  his  partner's  forehead.    Each 
begins  a  motion  of  the  body  which  is  rather 
suggestive,  but  the  situation  is  not  so  shocking 
as  it  might  be,  for  both  keep  their  hands  hang- 
ing limply  at  their  sides  and  bend  forward. 
The  crowd  looks  on  and  claps  hands  in  ap- 
plause, at  the  same  time  singing  a  crude  but 
effective  ditty.    The  "tout  ensemble"  is  a  won- 
derful display  of  native  art  carried  out  in  the 
minutest  detail,  as  though  a  ballet  master  had 
spent  years  in  training  the  performers.    But 
there  is  no  stage  director  among  the  Wanyika, 
no  miracle  man  of  aesthetics.     Each  native 
teaches  the  next  what  he  knows,  and  those 
whose  execution  is  not  up  to  the  standard  are 
barred  from  the  dance.    Perhaps  this  descrip- 
tion gives  the  impression  that  the  dance  is 
monotonous,  but  I  could  watch  the  evolutions 
for  hours  and  always  find  new  features  of 
interest. 


THE  WANYIKA  35 

The  final  act,  when  the  mixed  dancing  is 
completed,  is  a  wild  scene.  The  dancers  take 
leave  of  the  maidens  and  withdraw  to  a  posi- 
tion about  twenty  feet  away,  where  they  start 
a  war  dance  in  a  semicircle,  all  walking  or 
dancing  slowly  toward  the  right,  stamping 
their  armored  legs.  When  they  have  assumed 
their  formal  position,  one  member  jumps  out 
of  line  and  runs  around  the  semicircle,  sway-; 
ing  his  hands  and  feet.  Another  reproduces 
his  antics,  and  then  the  scene  is  set  for  the  mas- 
ter dancer,  who  comes  out  solemnly  and  takes 
the  front  of  the  stage.  This  official  leaps  about 
and  runs  the  circle  until  he  is  "warmed  up," 
when  he  takes  one  leap  in  the  air,  and  in  midr 
air  kicks  out  his  armored  leg  with  a  violence 
that  would  do  credit  to  a  champion  hurdler. 
The  kick  is  intended  to  exorcize  the  evil  spirit 
of  death.  That  is  the  end  of  the  program, 
which  is  repeated,  da  capo,  ad  infin. 

The  music  for  this  dance  is  furnished  by  a 
couple  of  tom-toms,  a  flute,  a  hunting  horn, 
and  the  singing  of  the  youngsters,  who  attend 
the  dance  in  large  numbers.  They  clap  their 
hands  to  the  rhythm  of  the  dancing  and  stamp 
their  little  feet  as  though  they,  too,  were  part 
of  the  ceremony.  The  great  feature  of  the 
music,  however,  is  the  clanging  of  the  bells  on 


36     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  armored  legs,  which  is  so  perfect  in  time 
that  one  cannot  detect  a  single  misstep  of  a 
foot  in  this  vast  crowd  of  dancers.  There  were 
more  than  forty  "star"  dancers  in  the  per- 
formance which  I  attended,  and  during  the 
hour  and  a  half  that  I  watched  them  I  looked 
for  breaks  in  the  rhythm,  but  I  did  not  hear  a 
bell  that  was  out  of  time.  The  bells  are  like 
our  sleighbells,  and  they  are  made  of  iron  tied 
to  strings  of  rawhide,  five  in  a  row.  These 
rows  begin  at  the  ankle  and  run  up  to  the  joint 
of  the  hip  and  thigh  at  intervals  of  two  or  three 
inches.  The  harness  is  tremendously  heavy 
and  could  not  weigh  an  ounce  under  fifteen 
pounds.  The  fantastic  headgear  of  monkey 
skins  and  cow  tails,  -feathers  and  waving 
plumes,  adds  "local  color"  to  the  dance  and 
helps  to  make  the  whole  spectacle  distinctively 
native. 


THE  WAKAMBA 

LEAVING  the  Wanyika  after  a  pleasant  stay 
of  two  weeks  among  them,  we  returned  to 
Mariakani  station  on  the  Uganda  Railroad  for 
the  bi-weekly  train,  and  were  pleasantly  sur- 
prised to  see  the  sparks  from  the  wood-burning 
engine  splash  around  the  toy  locomotive. 
There  was  the  usual  haggling  and  fighting 
about  the  surplus  amount  of  luggage  to  be 
crowded  into  the  little  guard  van.  But  a 
freight  train  brought  the  balance,  which  we 
had  to  leave  on  the  platform,  after  only  one 
day's  delay.  We  therefore  moved  on  farther 
west  for  a  distance  of  some  two  hundred  miles, 
and  feasted  our  eyes  on  the  large  herds  of  the 
various  kinds  of  antelope  and  deer  which  ran 
a  distance,  then  faced  ^the  train  expectantly, 
and  again  turned  and  ran  another  few  hundred 
yards  to  renew  their  caprices.  Ostriches  paced 
a  few  hundred  yards  to  the  right,  parallel  to 
the  roadbed,  moving  their  long  legs  in  meas- 
ured inverted  V's  and  clapping  their  feather- 

37 


38     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

less  wings  like  useless  Cupid  appendages.  This 
sign  of  life  at  least  gave  us  an  intimation  that 
at  last  we  had  left  the  effete  coast  and  pierced 
into  the  real  Africa  of  the  hunter's  dreams, 
with  Ukamba  as  the  gate. 

I  always  had  a  great  desire  to  know  more 
about  the  Wakamba.  In  my  earlier  mission- 
ary days  I  used  to  watch  them  in  camp.  The 
joy  at  the  killing  of  a  zebra  or  kongoni  and 
the  relish  with  which  they  used  to  eat  the  raw 
or  slightly  roasted  meat  and  tear  away  at  it 
with  their  saw-like  teeth  had  a  fascination  for 
me  which  made  me  always  anxious  to  know 
them  better.  Hence  it  was  with  a  pleasant 
anticipation  that  I  swung  off  the  train  at 
Kapiti  Plains  and  pitched  camp  on  the  very 
spot  which  ten  years  ago  had  sheltered  our  be- 
loved and  lamented  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

To  a  certain  extent  I  was  disappointed,  be- 
cause they  had  changed  so  much  since  the  early 
days  of  1900,  when  they  were  still  in  their  sav- 
age glory.  They  are  now  a  mixed  breed,  and 
civilizing  influences,  although  not  entirely  suc- 
cessful, have  mitigated  their  raw  savagery  of 
old. 

"Arizona  all  over  again,"  said  my  compan- 
ion when  we  struck  Kapiti  Plains  and  had  left 
the  Roosevelt  camp.  Nothing  to  be  seen  but  a 


THE  WAKAMBA  39 

slight  bluff  at  the  end  of  a  gently  sloping  plain. 
The  bluff,  however,  had  witnessed  many  a  kill- 
ing in  former  days,  when  the  lions  made  Kapiti 
the  Eldorado  of  big  game  hunters  and  when 
Stony  Athi  was  THE  lion  cage  of  the  world. 
Kongoni  were  still  to  be  found  in  great  herds 
and  little  did  I  know  that  I  was  prophesying 
when  I  remarked  to  my  companion  what  a 
waste  of  good  teeth  this  plain  contained  in  the 
many  bleached  skulls  which  the  plain  revealed 
almost  at  every  rod. 

It  happened  to  be  the  very  ground  where 
the  Wakamba  get  their  teeth  renewed  from  the 
rich  choice  scattered  along  that  road.  It  is 
unbelievable  that  the  Wakamba  should  be  able 
to  insert  these  artificial  teeth  so  skillfully  that 
they  won't  come  out  after  they  are  screwed 
into  their  place,  but  it  is  a  fact  notwithstand- 
ing that  the  Ukamba  youth  whose  picture  I 
have  both  in  still  and  moving  photograph  has 
no  less  than  six  of  these  artificial  teeth  screwed 
into  his  upper  jaw.  He  took  one  of  them  out 
before  the  camera  and  put  it  back  again,  and 
if  it  were  not  for  that  exhibition  I  would  have 
joined  the  chorus  of  skeptics  who  have  smiled 
in  my  face  when  I  related  the  phenomenon. 

The  Wakamba,  or,  as  they  call  themselves, 
Akamba,  are  a  Bantu  tribe  occupying  a  large 


40    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

territory  which  begins  west  of  the  station  of 
Mariakani  on  the  Uganda  Railroad  and  which 
borders  on  the  Wanyika  lands  to  Athi  Station 
on  the  same  line,  at  which  point  it  converges 
with  the  territory  of  the  Wakikuyu.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  Wakamba  territory  is  estimated 
at  235,000,  a  figure  based  on  the  returns  from 
the  hut  taxes  which  the  British  government  has 
imposed  on  the  Wakamba  tribe.  This  popu- 
lation is  scattered  over  an  area  of  about  150 
miles  from  east  to  west,  and  an  irregular 
stretch  from  .lorth  to  south. 

The  tribe  is  essentially  of  Bantu  stock,  al- 
though the  many  raids  which  they  have  made 
on  the  Wakikuyu  and  the  Masai  have  brought 
about  an  admixture  of  Nilotic  and  Hamitic 
blood,  for  the  slaves  taken  on  these  marauding 
excursions  have  left  their  mark  on  their  prog- 
eny. Except  for  this  infusion  of  Nilotic  and 
Hamitic  blood  the  Wakamba  are  a  pure  race, 
for  they  are  most  exclusive  when  it  comes  to 
taking  in  strangers  by  intermarriage. 

Clan  life  is  not  highly  developed  in  the 
Wakamba  tribe.  According  to  the  best  avail- 
able information,  there  are  only  eight  original 
clans,  and  some  of  these,  like  the  Atui,  are 
subdivided  into  three  clans  which  may  not  in- 
termarry among  themselves,  although  any 


THE  WAKAMBA  41 

member  of  the  three  may  marry  a  girl  from 
the  mother  clan.  This  peculiar  regulation 
necessarily  tends  toward  a  degree  of  inbreed- 
ing and  seems  to  contradict  a  statement  made 
by  Mr.  Hobley  in  his  book  on  the  Wakamba 
to  the  effect  that  they  are  probably  the  purest 
extant  tribe  of  Bantu.  I  base  this  argument 
on  the  fact  that  the  Wakamba  are  insensible 
to  the  deleterious  effects  of  inbreeding,  where- 
as the  other  tribes  are  keenly  aware  of  them. 
Moreover,  there  are  fewer  totems  among  the 
Wakamba  than  there  are  among  most  of  the 
other  Bantu  tribes.  Several  clans  have  the 
same  totem,  and  as  the  totem  is  the  chief  dis- 
tinguishing mark  by  which  the  purity  of  the 
clan  is  guarded  and  by  which  inbreeding  is 
avoided,  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
practices  of  the  Wakamba  unavoidably  result 
in  alliances  by  which  close  relatives  become 
the  parents  of  a  less  pure  progeny. 

The  small  list  of  totems  also  points  to  the 
same  conclusion.  Where  many  totems  define 
the  limits  of  mating  -selection  with  an  iron- 
clad barrier  about  the  preserves,  there  is  less 
danger  of  mistakes,  so  that  this  line  of  de- 
marcation guards  against  subsequent  degen- 
eration. What  I  have  said  about  the  preser- 
vation of  the  purity  of  the  tribe  may  be  re- 


42     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

peated  in  regard  to  the  original  prominence 
of  the  tribal  perfection  as  a  Bantu  group.  We 
must  bear  in  mind  that,  after  all,  language  is 
the  strongest  criterion  or  factor  dividing  the 
Nilotic  and  Bantu  camps.  The  language  of 
the  Wakamba  is  not  so  purely  Bantu  as  that, 
for  example,  of  the  Baganda  or  Urundi.  This 
characteristic  may  be  ascribed  to  the  strong 
influence  of  the  Masai  strain  in  the  tribe,  but 
the  fact  remains  that  the  limited  and  generic 
nature  of  the  Wakamba  totems  contrasted 
with  the  long  litany  of  these  guardian  angels 
of  purity  among  other  tribes  seems  to  call  for 
some  other  explanation  of  the  "distinction" 
conferred  on  the  Wakamba. 

The  Wakamba  muster  only  four  animal 
totems — the  tortoise  (the  general  totem  of  all 
the  Wakamba) ,  the  pig,  the  bush  buck,  and  the 
Mbungu  bird.  The  other  totems  are  certain 
parts  of  an  animal,  such  as  the  liver,  the  head 
or  the  lungs  of  any,  or,  in  some  cases,  a  spec- 
ified beast.  This,  I  think,  is  not  a  great 
enough  variety  of  interdicted  food  specifics  to 
prevent  inbreeding.  However,  I  merely  men- 
tion this  matter  to  indicate  that  clan  develop- 
ment among  the  Wakamba  is  not  especially 
pronounced. 

Wakamba    huts    are    very    unpretentious 


43 

abodes.  They  are  built  of  twigs  in  the  form 
of  a  beehive,  circular  and  not  more  than  fif- 
teen feet  in  diameter.  They  are  divided  in  two 
parts,  one  partition  serving  to  permit  a  certain 
amount  of  privacy  for  the  father  and  mother 
of  the  family.  Parents  and  children  have  sep- 
arate fireplaces. 

Small  as  the  huts  are,  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
ceremony  attached  to  the  building  of  them. 
Like  the  Wanyika,  the  Wakamba  are  not  gre- 
garious and  each  family  has  its  own  village; 
therefore  when  one  speaks  of  the  building  of 
a  house,  one  means  the  establishment  of  a  vil- 
lage, to  which  much  superstition  is  attached. 

On  my  way  from  Machakos  to  Stony  Athi 
I  saw  an  old  man  throwing  stones  from  a  cen- 
tral position  which  he  had  taken  up,  and  when 
he  turned  from  one  quarter  to  another,  throw- 
ing stones  to  the  four  directions  of  the  wind,  I 
thought  he  was  performing  some  pagan  rite  or 
other  and  naturally  wanted  to  know  what  it 
was  all  about.  One  of  my  guides  maintained 
that  he  was  picking  a  building  site.  Being 
more  or  less  interested  in  real  estate,  I  thought 
I  might  pick  up  some  new  information  for  my 
real  estate  agent  friends,  therefore  I  "stopped, 
looked  and  listened,"  and  this  is  what  it  all 
meant. 


44    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

The  medicine  man  must  select  the  site  for 
the  village,  and  he  arrives  at  his  choice  by 
throwing  stones  in  various  directions.  When 
he  is  satisfied  that  he  has  located  the  right 
place  he  sprinkles  the  area  with  the  blood  of 
a  goat  and  with  the  contents  of  the  goat's 
stomach.  The  prospective  builder  offers  up 
this  goat,  but  he  does  not  eat  it,  for  the  meat 
is  the  baccici  (fee)  for  the  medicine  man. 

The  boma  (enclosure)  is  built  first,  and  on 
its  completion  the  family  sleeps  four  days  in 
the  open  boma  under  a  scanty  shelter.  It  is 
required  that  husband  and  wife  cohabit  there 
on  the  second  and  fourth  nights,  lest  there  be 
no  more  children.  When  all  of  these  rites 
have  been  performed  correctly,  poles  for  the 
building  of  the  house  are  brought  from  the 
forest  or  the  woods.  When  the  poles  are 
planted,  a  little  grass  is  spread  over  them  and 
a  meal  of  porridge  is  cooked.  A  portion  of 
this  food  is  smeared  on  the  poles;  the  family 
partakes  of  the  meal ;  and  the  rest  of  it,  divided 
into  four  pieces,  is  strewn  on  the  floor,  along 
with  six  pieces  of  meat,  if  meat  is  part  of  the 
meal.  On  the  second  night  of  their  residence 
in  this  framework  the  parents  must  again  per- 
form their  marital  obligations  lest  ill  fortune 
strike  the  house.  When  finally  the  house  is 


45 

erected,  the  owner  must  prepare  a  feast  for 
his  relatives  and  slaughter  two  goats  to  initi- 
ate the  building  properly.  Later  on  a  second 
and  possibly  a  third  house  may  be  added,  along 
with  small  grain  huts. 

The  Wakamba  are  now  an  agricultural  and 
pastoral  tribe  by  occupation,  and  they  derive 
their  foodstuffs  from  their  labors,  although 
originally  they  were  purely  pastoral.  At 
present  they  live  principally  on  grains,  espe- 
cially maize,  mtama,  mawele  and  wimbi,  which 
they  fuse  into  a  porridge  which  they  like  to 
mix  with  honey  or  milk.  Green  bananas  and 
Indian  corn  are  their  choicest  delicacies.  They 
retain  a  special  relish  for  a  dish  which  they 
used  to  regard  as  a  staple  when  they  hunted 
and  herded  the  cattle  which  is  now  too  valuable 
to  eat.  This  entree  is  the  raw  blood  of  an  ani- 
mal— either  deer  or  bullock — which  they  ex- 
tract from  the  jugular  vein.  The  animal  need 
not  be  killed  to  provide  this  "piece  de  resist- 
ance," for  the  blood  can  be  tapped  without 
slaughter.  The  liquid  is  churned  in  a  gourd 
and  drunk  from  small  leaves,  which  take  the 
place  of  spoons. 

To  obtain  the  blood  of  the  bullock,  they 
throw  the'  animal  on  the  ground  and  tighten  a 
rope  of  rawhide  about  its  neck  to  accumulate 


46     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  blood.  Then  they  shoot  an  arrow  into  the 
jugular  vein,  from  which  the  blood  forthwith 
spurts  in  great  quantities.  Sometimes  they 
apply  their  lips  directly  to  the  wound  to 
quench  their  thirst  for  their  favorite  non- 
intoxicating  beverage.  As  soon  as  the  rope  is 
removed  from  the  bullock's  neck  the  bleeding 
stops  and  the  animal  jumps  up  and  bolts 
away,  none  the  worse  for  the  experience. 

The  Wakamba  maintain  a  gruesome  system 
of  tribal  marks,  which  seems  to  be  dying  out, 
although  many  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
tribe  still  indulge  in  it.  The  older  generations 
have  obeyed  the  code  religiously  and  take 
pride  in  it,  and  they  condemn  the  youths  for 
not  carrying  on  the  tradition.  The  chief  cus- 
tom is  to  chip  the  teeth,  and  there  are  special 
artists  who  perform  this  ceremony.  They  use 
a  small  chisel  and  hammer  with  which  they 
knock  off  minute  pieces  of  the  four  incisors 
and  sometimes  the  eye  teeth,  until  the  teeth 
look  like  spikes.  The  upper  jaw  consequently 
resembles  a  fine  saw.  The  artist  chisels  around 
the  nerve  without  striking  it,  taking  off  the 
enamel  but  leaving  the  cement  protection  for 
the  root.  A  minimum  of  enamel  is  left  so  as 
not  to  endanger  the  cement.  The  result  of  the 
operation  is  that  certain  teeth  are  made  ex- 


BLOOD  DRINKING  OF  THE  WAKAMBA 

In  the  time  of  famine  the  Wakamba  do  not  kill  their  animals 

but  extract  and  drink  their  blood. 

Preparing  for  the  operation.     Shooting  the  arrow  into  the  bull's  neck 
to  extract  the  blood.    The  bull  is  bled  from  the  jugular  vein 

in  the  neck. 

Drinking  the  warm,  raw,  foaming  blood  with  spoons  made  from  the 
leaves  of  a  tree. 


THE  WAKAMBA  47 

ceedingly  sharp  for  the  purpose  of  eating  raw 
meat  and  its  shred  fibers.  The  juicy  substance 
of  the  meat  is  thereby  extracted  with  ease  and 
the  natives  derive  the  full  benefit  of  their  food. 
These  dental  manipulations  give  the  Wa- 
kamba  an  unpleasant  appearance,  for  the  best 
feature  of  the  negro  is  the  healthy  and  regular 
line  of  teeth  which  is  naturally  his.  When  the 
teeth  are  damaged  the  surrounding  features 
seem  the  uglier  for  it.  The  Wakamba  aggra- 
vate matters  by  breaking  out  the  two  central 
incisors  of  the  lower  jaw  in  order  to  ward  off 
starvation  during  an  attack  of  tetanus.  The 
Wakamba  seem  to  revel  in  sacrificing  health 
for  beauty — and  for  fancy.  As  a  result  of 
these  dental  mutilations  the  condition  of  their 
gums  and  mouths  in  general  is  deplorable. 
Festering  sets  in  almost  universally  and  pus 
forms  about  the  roots  of  the  teeth,  generally 
causing  the  loss  of  the  teeth.  Pyorrhea  is  com- 
mon, and  more  serious  mouth  infections  occur 
frequently.  Yet  there  is  a  compensation  for 
these  evils,  because  the  Wakamba  have  devel- 
oped some  remarkable  dentists.  Lost  upper 
teeth  are  replaced  with  new  ones  obtained 
from  the  kongoni  or  hartebeest.  These  arti- 
ficial teeth  are  grafted  on  the  cavities  and  ham- 
mered in  until  they  remain  in  place.  The  new 


48     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

teeth  are  filed  or  chipped  to  resemble  the  orig- 
inal set.  We  saw  one  young  Mukamba  who 
had  six  teeth  extracted  and  replaced  in  this 
manner,  and  he  was  able  to  take  them  all  out 
and  screw  them  in  again  for  eating  purposes. 
Yet  despite  the  startling  dental  accomplish- 
ments of  the  Wakamba  I  found  that  most  of 
the  natives  have  their  mouths  in  a  shocking 
condition. 

What  the  Wakamba  lack  orally  they  seem 
to  gain  in  sight  and  hearing.  These  senses 
are  developed  abnormally.  The  Wakamba 
can  see  a  long  distance  and  can  describe  an 
animal  accurately  when  we  can  scarcely  see  the 
beast.  This  ability  gives  one  an  uncanny  feel- 
ing. Their  auricular  sense  is  equally  amazing. 
They  can  speak  to  one  another  in  ordinary 
conversational  tones  at  a  distance  of  one  hun- 
dred yards  without  difficulty. 

What  makes  the  Wakamba  such  fine  track- 
ers and  gunbearers  is  this  abnormal  sense  of 
hearing.  This  sense  is  so  acutely  developed 
that  a  white  man  in  pursuit  would  have  no 
chance  with  them.  Their  sense  of  auricular 
perception  is  as  phenomenal  as  the  sense  of 
odor  in  an  elephant. 

Another  tribal  mark  which  is  very  common 
is  one  which  seems  to  be  equally  common  in 


THE  WAKAMBA  49 

the  United  States.  It  is  the  method  of  beauty 
culture  which  compels  the  women  to  pick  out 
their  eyebrows.  Some  of  the  natives  (the 
Wakamba,  of  course!)  go  so  far  as  to  carry 
a  pair  or  more  of  tweezers  with  them  wherever 
they  travel.  The  operation,  I  suppose,  is  pain- 
ful, but  beauty  will  not  be  gainsaid  and  the 
natives  will  sacrifice  nothing  more  willingly 
than  their  eyebrows.  Considering  the  black- 
ness of  the  Africans,  the  absence  of  eyebrows 
really  makes  little  difference,  for  the  beauty 
spots  are  of  the  same  color  as  the  rest  of  the 
skin  and  the  hair ;  but  the  natives  seem  to  find 
an  aesthetic  delight  in  the  operation — and  with 
the  women,  that  is  ample  ground  for  anything ! 
Another  and  more  cruel  mark  is  the  scari- 
fication of  their  skins,  especially  on  the  abdo- 
men and  the  breasts.  This  habit,  together  with 
the  fashion  of  wearing  copper  and  brass  rings 
and  waistbands,  causes  an  almost  universal 
complaint  of  skin  trouble.  There  are  few 
women  in  the  Wakamba  district  who  are  not 
afflicted  with  coarse  and  often  diseased  skins. 
Their  condition  is  aggravated  by  their  insist- 
ence on  greasing  themselves  with  a  crude  mix- 
ture of  rancid  butter.  This  combination  of 
irritants  will  leave  little  occasion  for  a  medical 
rechercheur  to  look  further  for  the  origin  and 


50    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

causes  of  the  prevalent  dermal  trouble.  The 
fact  that  the  natives  wear  tanned  and  cured 
goatskins,  which  are  seldom  if  ever  cleaned  or 
washed,  does  not  help  to  cure  the  disease,  for 
the  apparel  absorbs  a  great  part  of  the  matter 
given  off  by  the  body  and  retains  the  putrefied 
excretions  of  the  sores. 

To  cicatrize  these  marks  on  the  skin  in  vari- 
ous patterns  they  use  a  knife  and  a  needle 
simultaneously,  yet  not  a  sigh  escapes  these 
brave  maidens  when  they  submit  in  the  cause, 
of  beauty. 

The  ear  also  cannot  escape  the  ravages  of 
mutilation  which  are  demanded  by  the  implac- 
able law  of  fashion.  Our  own  earrings  hang 
easily  from  the  tiniest  puncture,  but  the 
Wakamba  affect  chains  of  enormous  weight 
and  dimensions,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
other  articles  which  they  carry  in  their  ears 
could  not  be  accommodated  unless  the  whole 
lobe  of  the  ear  were  split  open  and  extended. 
Even  this  generous  measure  does  not  fill  the 
Wakamba  beauty's  cup  of  joy.  She  must 
carry  her  ornaments  not  only  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ear  but  at  the  top.  So  she  makes  a  clean 
job  of  it — and  the  result  is  an  ear  that  looks  as 
though  it  were  knotted  and  folded  over  with 
the  weight  of  the  trinkets. 


THE  WAKAMBA  51 

Nor  is  the  scalp  immune  from  beautifying 
artifices.  The  scalp  is  treated  with  relative 
tenderness,  but  the  results  are  divers  and  be- 
wildering. It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  to 
catalogue  the  many  patterns  in  which  the  hair 
is  shaved.  Moons,  half-moons,  quarter  cres- 
cents and  stars  are  very  popular;  twists, 
spirals,  prisms — all  the  figures  known  to  math- 
ematics and  trigonometry  are  found  on  the 
fashion  plates  in  the  tonsorial  department  of 
the  Wakamba.  To  leave  two  or  more  tufts 
growing  after  the  bulk  of  the  hair  has  been  re- 
moved is  the  height  of  good  form.  Sometimes 
one  sees  a  beautiful  pyramid  standing  straight 
up  on  the  top  of  the  head  to  lend  enchantment 
to  Uka's  dome.  The  whims  of  Lady  Fashion 
are  strange  and  elusive — but  so  long  as  her 
devotees  are  ready  to  pay  the  price  in  blood 
and  pain,  what  may  a  man  say  in  protest  ? 

Closely  allied  to  the  tribal  marks  is  the  ques- 
tion of  dress — another  concession  to  vanity. 
The  men  are  indifferent  in  the  matter,  for  their 
personal  pride  is  not  developed  in  this  direc- 
tion. They  seem  to  be  almost  callous  to  self- 
respect  and  are  content  to  let  a  blanket  cover 
their  nakedness.  Before  the  advent  of  blankets 
they  wore  skins,  and  they  were  not  particular 
whether  the  skins  protected  them  above  or  be- 


52    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

low  the  waist.  A  portable  chair  and  a  snuff- 
box— ah,  that  were  happiness  enow  for  them! 
But  the  women!  Well,  "y°u  know  what 
women  are."  There  was  a  banquet  in  Nairobi 
at  which  most  of  the  diners  were  in  what  is 
known  as  "full"  evening  costume.  A  facetious 
old-timer  in  British  East  Africa  remarked  that 
the  more  clothes  the  African  women  adopted, 
the  less  the  white  women  seemed  to  wear.  I 
shall  not  pass  judgment  on  this  uncharitable 
observation,  but  it  brings  out  the  point  that 
the  African  women  are  not  so  insensible  to 
clothes  as  they  used  to  be. 

However,  the  Wakamba  women  are  an 
exception,  for  they  always  had  an  inter- 
est in  dress  and  they  have  a  prescribed 
wear  for  each  stage  of  life  through  which 
they  pass.  They  begin  their  career  with 
a  little  beaded  life-belt  to  which  other  beaded 
coils  are  added  until,  at  the  age  of  ten  or 
twelve,  they  have  accumulated  quite  a  wide 
band  of  strings  of  beads.  This  band,  in  most 
cases,  is  wider  than  a  cholera  belt,  and  it  comes 
in  every  conceivable  color.  At  this  age  they 
begin  to  indulge  in  jewelry,  such  as  armlets, 
necklets,  arm  and  elbow  coils  of  brass  and  cop- 
per, and  all  the  rest  of  the  feminine  gewgaws. 
They  pile  on  neck  rings  until  they  are  bur- 


THE  WAKAMBA  53 

dened  with  a  sizeable  stock  of  hardware,  al- 
though, as  I  have  mentioned,  these  ornaments 
produce  scars  and  irritations  on  the  skin.  The 
girls  always  wear  a  little  apron,  but  when  they 
are  about  ten  years  old  they  put  on  well-cured 
skins  or  a  cloth  mantle  thoroughly  soaked  in 
castor  oil  and  lava  dust.  This  garment  is  sup- 
posed to  last  a  lifetime,  and  as  they  advance  in 
age  the  women  may  add  a  blanket  or  two  under 
the  cloth.  The  old  women  wear  a  skin,  over 
or  under  which  they  frequently  wrap  a  cloth 
mantle.  In  their  old  age  they  retain  whatever 
luxury  life  has  provided  for  them. 

Marriage  customs  are,  of  course,  absorb- 
ingly interesting  always  and  everywhere,  and 
I  never  pass  a  tribe  without  investigating  into 
its  ceremonial  customs  and  methods  of  bridal 
acquisition.  This,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  and 
the  dance  give  one  a  better  key  to  the  status 
of  culture  in  a  given  tribe  than  any  other  usage 
displayed.  I  like  the  old  Baganda  system  the 
best,  because  there  they  use  every  method 
known  in  the  matrimonial  mill.  I  wrote  a  the- 
sis on  that  question,  and  I  believe  that  the  sys- 
tem of  matrimony  reflects  the  mental  attitude 
of  a  clan  or  tribe,  in  regard  to  the  moral  status, 
very  accurately.  It  is  for  this  reason  particu- 
larly that  I  look  upon  the  Wakamba  as  an  un- 


54    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

moral  people,  having  no  regard  for  their  bar- 
gains once  a  contract  is  made. 

Marriage  is  a  ceremony  about  which  the 
Wakamba  trouble  themselves  even  less  than 
the  Wanyika;  with  them,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, marriage  is  purely  a  matter  of  com- 
merce. Not  that  the  Wakamba  overlook  the 
important  part  of  the  transaction  which  means 
so  many  cows  or  goats  added  to  the  herds  of 
the  bride's  father,  but  there  is  even  less  cere- 
mony in  the  giving  of  the  daughter  and  her 
departure  from  home  than  there  is  with  the 
Wanyika.  With  the  Wakamba,  marriage  is 
a  deal  in  which  the  young  man  is  fleeced. 

The  young  man  and  the  young  woman  be- 
come acquainted,  and  when  there  is  a  mutual 
understanding  the  prospective  bridegroom  in- 
forms his  father  who,  accompanied  by  a  couple 
of  goats,  calls  on  the  young  woman's  father. 
The  goats  are  handed  over  to  the  father-in- 
law-to-be,  and  after  the  import  of  the  call  is 
explained  the  two  men  confer  about  the  pros- 
pects of  their  children  and  the  young  man's 
father  departs.     Three  days  later  he  returns 
with  three  she-goats  and  another  conference 
takes  place.    Seven  days  later  he  pays  another 
visit,  bringing  with  him  six  goats.    A  subse- 
quent call  enriches  the  girl's  father  by  twenty 


THE  WAKAMBA  55 

to  forty  additional  goats — and  then  the  recipi- 
ent recalls  that  he  has  neglected  to  demand  one 
or  two  bulls.  When  the  final  animal  offering 
is  delivered,  along  with  three  or  four  gourds  of 
"Tembo,"  the  fathers  drink  to  the  bargain. 
While  the  conviviality  is  at  its  height,  the  girl's 
family  is  informed  of  the  transaction,  and  this 
is  a  cue  for  the  men  to  prepare  for  a  battle. 

Six  brothers  or  other  relatives  of  the  groom 
leave  their  homes  well  armed,  and  approach 
the  house  of  the  girl.  She,  knowing  the 
day  and  the  hour,  strolls  into  the  field  where 
her  brothers  are  herding  the  flocks.  The  six 
stalwarts  attempt  to  carry  her  off.  The 
brothers  contest  the  maneuver.  If  the  kidnap- 
ers are  repulsed,  the  bridegroom  is  obliged  to 
forfeit  ten  additional  goats.  The  whole  pro- 
cedure is  not  unlike  the  forcible  bride-snatching 
of  the  early  Teutons. 

The  girl,  having  been  kidnaped  successfully, 
is  taken  to  the  hut  of  her  father-in-law,  where 
she  is  treated  with  the  utmost  consideration, 
and  after  the  birth  of  the  first  child  the  hus- 
band builds  his  own  hut  and  forms  his  own 
establishment.  Three  weeks  after  this  event 
the  bride's  mother  receives  fourteen  bunches  of 
bananas,  one  male  sheep,  one  large  male  goat 
and  other  food.  Then  the  young  man  halves 


56     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

a  young  bullock,  one  half  of  which  goes  to  the 
mother-in-law.  When  he  has  delivered  this 
present  he  suggests  to  his  wife  that  she  go  with 
him  out  of  the  village  of  her  parents.  He  looks 
about  as  though  he  were  suspicious  of  trickery, 
and  when  he  reaches  the  village  limits  he  takes 
the  girl  by  the  hand  and  they  go  home  to  stay. 
Hereafter  the  young  husband  never  speaks  to 
his  mother-in-law  again,  and  he  must  avoid  her 
should  they  meet  on  the  road. 

The  day  after  this  ceremony  three  of  the 
girl's  female  friends  go  to  the  hut  of  the  young 
couple  and  receive  some  beads.  Here  they  stay 
for  three  days,  during  which  time  they  weep 
and  lament  the  departure  of  their  old  com- 
panion. 

Sometimes  an  elopement  takes  place,  but  if 
the  girl's  father  objects,  the  girl  must  be  re- 
turned and  there  must  be  a  wedding  according 
to  custom.  It  is  quite  common  for  the 
Wakamba  to  lend  their  wives  to  visiting 
brothers  or  clansmen,  and  there  is  no  resent- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  lady  who  receives  this 
change  of  venue  without  being  consulted. 

The  Wakamba  are  exogamous  in  their 
choice  of  life  partners,  except  where  there  is  a 
subdivision  of  the  clan,  in  which  case,  as  I  have 


57 

pointed  out  before,  there  may  be  an  endog- 
amous  union. 

Birth  customs  among  the  Wakamba  are 
very  peculiar.  The  mother  is  confined  stand- 
ing up,  clinging  to  a  horizontal  pole,  with  her 
limbs  spread  out  wide  to  facilitate  the  birth. 
There  are  two  women  in  attendance,  one  to  re- 
ceive the  baby  and  the  other  to  sever  the  um- 
bilical cord,  which  she  immediately  buries 
close  to  the  house.  The  mother  may  not  leave 
the  hut  for  twenty  days  after  the  birth,  and 
she  is  fed  by  the  women  in  attendance.  At  the 
end  of  this  period  the  parents  have  their  first 
ceremonial  cohabitation,  during  which  the  child 
is  placed  on  the  breast  of  the  mother  to  make 
certain  the  birth  of  other  children.  This  con- 
tinues until  the  first  menstruation  occurs, 
after  which  the  mother  carries  the  child  on  her 
shoulder.  When  a  child  is  born  feet  foremost, 
it  is  a  bad  omen,  and  such  children  are  circum- 
cised apart  from  the  rest  and  are  always  looked 
at  askance.  They  can  never  find  anyone  will- 
ing to  marry  them  and  practically  become  out- 
casts. 

Formerly  it  was  the  custom  to  bury  alive 
a  girl  born  as  one  of  twins,  because  she 
was  thought  to  bring  ill  fortune  to  the  family. 


58    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

Beer  is  brewed  on  the  day  of  the  birth,  to  be 
consumed  three  days  later  at  a  feast  given  by 
the  father,  who  also  kills  a  goat  or  a  bullock, 
depending  on  his  wealth.  Six  months  before 
the  expected  birth  of  a  child  the  woman  ceases 
to  live  with  her  husband.  During  the  full  term 
of  carrying  the  child,  she  must  not  eat  butter, 
for  butter  is  supposed  to  kill  the  child.  (Un- 
married women  who  have  conceived  consume 
butter  as  an  abortive  measure. )  Nor  must  the 
mother  eat  honey  during  her  pregnancy,  be- 
cause honey  is  fattening  and  would  fatten  the 
child  to  such  an  extent  that  the  mother  would 
die  in  giving  birth  or  become  incapable  of  de- 
livering it. 

The  Wakamba  have  little  respect  for  the 
dead,  and  for  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people 
there  is  not  even  a  burial.  Peasants  and 
women  are  thrown  out  into  the  bush  without 
being  placed  under  the  ground,  and  their 
bodies  are  allowed  to  rot  or  to  be  eaten  by  the 
jackals  and  the  hyenas.  Usually  the  beasts 
of  prey  deliver  the  last  rites  in  their  own 
ghastly  manner.  The  common  dead  are  even 
stripped  of  their  clothing,  if  they  have  any, 
and  they  are  neither  mourned  nor  honored  with 
a  cortege  when  they  are  disposed  of  in  the 
bush. 


THE  WAKAMBA  59 

I  had  no  opportunity  to  observe  the  funeral 
rites  of  the  Wakamba,  but  I  am  told 
that  their  system  is  a  heartless  one.  Battle- 
field hyenas  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  have  much 
in  common  with  these  gentry.  The  chiefs  and 
heads  of  villages  fare  a  little  better,  but  there 
is  none  of  the  elaborate  mourning  which  is 
common  in  other  tribes.  The  natives  dig  a 
grave  for  a  prominent  man  and  deposit  his 
naked  body  in  the  aperture.  The  spirit  is  fed 
from  time  to  time  by  food  which  is  left  on  the 
plot  where  he  is  laid  away.  No  cultivation  is 
permitted  on  this  land,  and  soon  it  is  over- 
grown with  weeds,  which  generally  are  the 
mark  of  the  resting  place  of  a  chief. 

There  is  a  prescribed  mourning  term  of 
twenty  days  to  be  observed  by  the  relatives  of 
the  departed,  but  this  is  in  reality  a  period  of 
feasting  rather  than  a  time  of  sorrow.  Great 
quantities  of  beer  are  consumed,  and  there  are 
dances,  but  not  the  kind  of  dances  which  the 
Wanyika  perform  as  a  religious  observance. 
The  village  mourns  one  day  for  a  chief,  and 
there  is  a  continuous  wailing  from  morning 
until  night.  The  wife,  the  children  and  the 
brothers  do  not  shave  their  hair  for  seven  days. 
All  marital  rights  are  suspended  for  two  days 
after  a  death,  however  humble,  for  it  is  believed 


60    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

that  a  child  conceived  under  such  circum- 
stances is  shadowed  by  death,  and  that  even 
if  it  survived  it  would  be  the  slave  of  lethal 
spirits.  Nor  is  there  eating  for  one  day  after 
a  death,  lest  the  gaunt  spirit  share  the  feast 
and  reap  more  victims.  There  is  wailing  for 
three  hours  after  every  death,  not  for  sorrow 
but  to  expel  the  evil  spirit  from  the  community. 

Being  a  graduate  in  Jurisprudence  with  a 
hobby  for  ancient  Anglo-American  legal  insti- 
tutions,! revel  in  old,  "moyen  age"  and  modern 
jury  methods  and  our  ancestral  ordeals  by 
water  and  fire,  which  together  with  our  other 
systems  might  almost  have  been  taken  "en 
bloc"  into  the  Wakamba  procedure.  Of 
course,  they  have  no  plowshares  nor  pitch,  but 
otherwise  they  follow  us  pretty  closely.  The 
"Kithito"  particularly  is  a  remarkable  insti- 
tution. 

The  Wakamba  have  some  odd  methods  for 
meting  out  justice.  They  favor  various  forms 
of  ordeals  which  are  similar  to  the  early  Eng- 
lish system  of  trying  a  case.  One  instance  is 
ordeal  by  fire.  The  medicine  man  heats  an 
iron,  confers  a  certain  power  on  the  heated  iron 
and  thereafter  hands  it  to  the  accused,  who,  he 
says,  shall  not  be  burned  if  he  is  not  guilty.  If, 
however,  the  iron  hurts  him,  his  guilt  is  mani- 


<  -a 


2* 

•> 


U  .2 
U  « 


o  « 


SCARIFICATIONS 

A  close  view  of  the  scarifications  of  an  ordinary  design  of  a 
Wakamba  woman. 


,THE  WAKAMBA  61 

fest.  There  is  also  a  water  test,  which  is  em- 
ployed when  several  persons  are  suspected  of 
a  given  misdeed  and  when  there  is  no  specific 
evidence  against  any  one  of  them.  The  sus- 
pects are  placed  in  a  semicircle  by  the  medicine 
man,  who,  after  lining  up  the  persons  on  trial, 
fills  a  gourd  with  water  and  begins  to  revolve 
it.  If  the  guilty  one  is  in  the  party  the  gourd 
will  spout  forth  water  when  it  is  turned  toward 
this  individual,  whose  guilt  is  thereupon  de- 
clared. 

Something  approximating  the  sanctity  of 
our  oath  is  administered  in  a  case  where  there 
is  no  direct  evidence,  but  where  strong  sus- 
picion attaches  to  a  certain  individual.  The 
suspect  is  brought  before  the  "Nzama,"  or  na- 
tive council  of  elders,  who  sit  in  judgment. 
The  accused  is  asked  over  and  over  again 
whether  he  is  guilty  of  the  offense  with  which 
he  is  charged.  If  he  declines  to  answer  satis- 
factorily he  is  finally  confronted  with  the 
"Kithito,"  or  sacred  horn,  before  which  he  must 
swear  his  innocence.  The  sacred  horn,  which 
is  one  of  a  kongoni  or  hartebeest,  or  of  a  bul- 
lock, is  filled  with  weeds  and  a  certain  poison. 
The  "Kithito"  is  placed  on  the  rocks  and  a 
little  twig  is  laid  on  the  sacred  emblem.  There- 
upon the  accused  is  charged  by  the  medicine 


&    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

man  to  demonstrate  his  innocence  on  the  holy 
fetish,  and  he  is  informed  that  if  he  swears 
falsely  he  is  bound  to  die;  if  he  swears  truly, 
the  stain  will  be  removed  from  his  character. 

So  strongly  do  the  natives  believe  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  oath  that  if  they  are  guilty  they  will 
refuse  to  swear  on  the  "Kithito"  and  confess 
their  crime  rather  than  face  certain  death.  If 
they  are  innocent,  they  make  their  oath  with- 
out fear.  The  "Kithito"  is  much  in  use  at  the 
present  time,  and  it  is  the  best  friend  of  the 
officers  of  the  courts  among  the  Wakamba, 
because  it  weeds  out  many  cases  which  other- 
wise would  have  to  be  tried  in  regular  courts. 

The  chief  or  any  elder  may  administer  the 
oath,  and  if  a  quorum  be  lacking,  any  of  the 
natives  may  sit  in  judgment.  The  form  of 
the  oath  is  to  take  up  the  twig  from  the  horn 
and  to  hold  it  out  to  the  judges,  who  are  there- 
by convinced  of  the  innocence  of  the  defendant. 
Sometimes  the  twig  remains  on  the  horn,  and 
the  oath-taker  receives  a  similar  twig  with 
which  to  touch  the  other.  The  "Kithito"  is 
used  also  to  make  peace  between  two  clans  of 
the  Wakamba,  and  it  is  handed  down  from 
father  to  son,  becoming  a  traditional  sacred 
relic  in  the  family.  The  different  foods  and 


THE  WAKAMBA  63 

medicines  with  which  the  horn  is  filled  are  re- 
newed on  occasion,  and  when  the  "Kithito"  is 
to  be  used  it  is  smeared  with  the  fat  of  a  sheep. 

Capital  punishment  is  not  known  among  the 
Wakamba,  but  a  code  which  sounds  like  the 
early  "dooms"  of  the  English  courts  is  used 
by  the  elders  and  the  medicine  men.  For  in- 
stance, an  assault  whereby  the  head  of  the  com- 
plainant is  severely  injured  is  atoned  for  by 
one  goat  or  ox,  or  even  by  as  much  as  five  cows, 
if  the  hurt  is  disfiguring.  Rape  is  punished  by 
a  forfeit  of  two  goats — three,  if  the  girl  has 
conceived.  In  this  crime  the  girl  receives  the 
skin  and  the  elders  consume  the  meat. 

When  a  person  proves  to  be  a  habitual  thief 
or  a  constant  nuisance,  he  is  "removed  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,"  but  not  by  capital  punish- 
ment. He  (or  she)  is  warned  repeatedly  that 
he  will  be  reported  to  the  heads  of  his  family 
or  clan  and  that  thereafter  the  clan  will  be 
held  responsible  for  his  actions.  If,  after  such 
warning,  there  is  no  improvement  in  his  be- 
havior, the  family  or  clan  is  looked  upon  as  a 
menace  to  public  safety  and  dealt  with  accord- 
ingly. As  a  result  of  this  law  the  clan  usually 
gives  its  delinquent  member  another  warning; 
if  this  ultimatum  is  ignored  a  certain  member 


64    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

of  the  family  is  detailed  to  kill  the  offender — 
and  this  duty  is  generally  performed  with 
alacrity. 

Succession  rights  are  equitable  among  the 
tribe.  When  the  head  of  a  family  dies  his 
wives  are  inherited  by  his  brothers,  who  appor- 
tion them  among  themselves,  and  the  property 
passes  on  to  the  sons.  Daughters  are  not 
"named  in  the  will,"  but  their  uncles  are  mor- 
ally bound  to  support  them. 

Having  had  such  a  good  time  at  the 
Wanyika  dance,  I  was  much  disappointed  in 
that  of  the  Wakamba.  There  seemed  to  be  a 
lack  of  aesthetic  or  mystical  meaning  to  it,  or 
if  there  was  any  I  could  not  find  it,  except  the 
diabolical  meaning  of  the  witch  dance. 

Unlike  the  Wanyika,  the  Wakamba  have 
very  poor  dances.  They  compensate  for  the 
lack  of  quality  in  the  dancing  by  holding  these 
functions  as  frequently  as  possible;  there  are 
terpsichorean  sessions  daily,  whenever  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  dancers  can  be  gathered  to- 
gether. A  semicircle  is  formed,  with  men  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  line  and  the  women  on  the 
other.  The  men  beat  a  drum,  which  they  hold 
between  themselves  and  the  women,  and  they 
continue  raising  the  sound  throughout  the  evo- 
lutions. The  partners  assume  a  "cheek-to- 


THE  WAKAMBA  65 

cheek"  posture — as  though  they  were  in  one  of 
our  fashionable  grillrooms — but  only  the  men 
move  their  feet.  The  women  remain  still  be- 
low the  waist,  but  they  wriggle  the  upper  parts 
of  their  bodies  in  a  manner  that  reminds  one  of 
the  "shimmy,"  while  their  arms  hang  limply  at 
their  sides.  The  men  and  women  come  to- 
gether at  the  start  of  the  dance  proper — or  im- 
proper, if  you  prefer — and  stay  in  one  place 
throughout.  A  shrill  whistle  accompanies  the 
dance,  which,  however,  cannot  be  -said  to  pos- 
sess artistic  or  rhythmic  elements. 

The  old  women  have  a  witch  dance  which  is 
rather  eery  in  its  effect.  The  movements  are 
similar  to  those  indulged  in  by  the  younger 
dancers  except  that  the  old  women  do  not  in- 
dulge in  the  voluptuous  contortions  of  their 
younger  sisters.  There  is  something  sensual 
in  the  antics  of  the  half-naked  young  women, 
but  the  old  women  behave  in  harmless  fashion. 
The  sight  is  rather  disgusting  on  account  of 
the  ugly  appearance  of  the  old  creatures.  If 
the  dance  had  a  pleasant  connotation  no  one 
could  cavil  at  the  old  women  having  their  meed 
of  pleasure,  but  the  witch  dance  carries  with 
it  a  dreadful  meaning.  This  dance  is  not  only 
intended  for  a  possible  future  execution  of  the 
kind  that  I  have  described  (the  death  sentence 


66     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

of  a  habitual  thief  or  other  malefactor),  but 
where  such  a  death  is  impending  the  old  women 
who  have  a  grievance  against  the  victim  dance 
this  witch  dance  to  implore  the  spirit  of  death 
to  come  and  seize  the  object  of  their  hatred. 
Formerly  it  was  not  uncommon  to  execute  an 
old  woman  past  usefulness  or  any  woman  who 
no  longer  could  bear  children  or  perform  the 
ordinary  drudge  of  labor. 

When  such  an  execution  were  foreseen  other 
aged  women  would  gather  and  hold  the  witch 
dance  partly  for  self-protection  and  partly  to 
invoke  the  vengeance  of  the  spirits  of  the  an- 
cestors on  the  guilty  parties  who  intended  to 
kill  the  aged  woman. 

There  is  little  to  be  said  of  the  industries  of 
the  Wakamba.  Although  the  men  are  not 
quite  so  listless  and  lackadaisical  as  the  Wanyi- 
ka,  there  is  little  energy  to  be  found.  The  men 
occasionally  assist  the  women  in  the  fields,  but 
they  are  very  unreliable  workers.  The  only 
labor  at  which  they  do  not  lack  enterprise  is 
the  making  of  beer,  of  which  they  are  abnor- 
mally fond.  It  is  not  easy  at  this  time  to  see 
them  at  this  task,  for  brewing  has  been  pro- 
hibited by  the  government  on  account  of  the 
excessive  drinking  and  the  consequent  lawless- 
ness. 


THE  WAKAMBA  67 

The  worst  feature  I  remembered  of  them 
from  the  old  days  was  their  boisterous  and  dan- 
gerous condition  when  they  had  indulged  in 
their  "tembo,"  an  alcoholic  inebriant  made  of 
sugarcane  and  much  worse  than  any  found  on 
the  old  caravan  route.  Although  I  had  little 
experience  with  the  Wakamba,  I  do  remem- 
ber plastering  some  nasty  gashes  which  were 
the  results  of  overindulgence. 

The  Wakamba  are  notorious  for  their  pas- 
sion for  drink,  and  they  cannot  get  enough  of 
their  own  sugar  beer,  the  manufacture  of  which 
I  shall  discuss  later.  For  the  consumption  of 
this  native  drink  they  have  an  especial  location 
which  they  call  the  "Thomi."  This  reservation 
is  an  open  space  in  front  of  the  village,  and 
it  is  swept  religiously  every  morning  by  the 
young  boys  of  the  village.  The  sanctity  of  the 
"rendez-vous"  is  so  stringent  that  all  visitors 
are  barred.  It  is  a  sort  of  exclusive  club  for 
old  men,  and  should  a  woman  happen  to  stray 
into  this  bacchic  shrine  she  would  be  beaten  and 
driven  out  like  an  intrusive  dog.  Here  the 
men  drink  and  play  their  games  and  pass  the 
best  part  of  the  day.  A  fire  is  built  in  the  cen- 
ter, where  the  wise  old  heads  may  sit  about  and 
discourse  on  the  topics  of  the  times. 

Another  intoxicant,  or  more  correctly,  sopo- 


68     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

rific,  is  snuff.  Every  Mukamba  carries  a  snuff- 
box, which  is  his  principal  article  of  accouter- 
ment.  The  natives  are  very  proud  of  these 
containers,  and  they  have  some  very  attractive 
boxes  in  the  shape  of  a  small  ball  of  hollow 
wood  with  an  ivory  cover.  The  snuff  mer- 
chants are  the  chief  attraction  of  the  native 
market,  where  they  squat  in  little  groups  of 
six  to  ten.  The  snuff  mart  is  the  center  of 
keenest  haggling  in  the  trading  place,  and  if 
you  have  ever  relished  snuff  or  have  become 
a  slave  to  it,  get  some  Ukamba  snuff,  and  I 
guarantee  you  that  it  will  be  the  last  you'll 
whiff.  I  bought  some  to  please  them,  and 
my  nose  still  retains  the  memory  of  the  ven- 
ture. 

The  British  government,  always  anxious  to 
put  down  native  abuses  and  yet  desirous  to 
preserve  the  ancient  traditions,  has  modified 
the  drinking  bouts  in  a  most  diplomatic  man- 
ner. There  are  certain  ceremonies  for  which 
the  native  beer  is  prescribed,  such  as  births, 
circumcisions,  espousals,  thanksgivings  for  the 
crops,  sick  healings  and  sacrifice  festivals.  For 
these  rites  a  certain  quantity  of  beer  is  "sine 
qua  non,"  and  the  government  issues  permits 
for  its  use  only  when  these  solemnities  occur. 
The  natives  therefore  feel  that  the  officials  are 


THE  WAKAMBA  69 

not  interfering  with  their  traditions,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  consumption  of  sugar  beer  is 
diminished.  They  used  to  make  their  beer 
from  sugarcane,  and  later  from  raw  sugar. 
Both  commodities  were  placed  under  an  em- 
bargo, and  now  they  import  molasses,  which 
was  not  included  in  the  statute.  However, 
molasses  is  soon  to  share  the  fate  of  its  prede- 
cessors. 

The  manner  in  which  this  sugar  beer  is  made 
from  the  raw  material  is  rather  ingenious. 
Owing  to  the  native  resourcefulness  there  is 
little  more  required  than  the  sugarcane,  a 
grater,  such  as  the  nutmeg  grater,  and  a  piece 
of  string.  The  cane,  stripped  of  its  bark,  is 
grated  and  produces  a  sort  of  shredded  pulp. 
The  pulp  is  then  shaped  into  a  loaf  and  wound 
around  with  the  string  to  make  it  cohere. 
When  the  loaf  has  been  reasonably  packed  it 
is  wrung  like  a  piece  of  clothing  in  the  wash. 
The  juice  is  the  beer,  which  is  ready  to  be  con- 
sumed after  one  day  of  fermenting.  To  facil- 
itate the  operation  the  natives  dip  the  fiber  in 
water,  which  also  tends  to  dilute  the  beer. 

There  are,  of  course,  a  number  of  artisans 
who  perform  various  tasks  like  blacksmithing, 
carpentry,  and  chairmaking.  Blacksmithing 
is  a  profession  which  passes  from  father  to  son. 


70    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

The  other  trades  are  adopted  by  voluntary  ap- 
plication. The  scarifier  has  the  dual  distinc- 
tion of  being  .artist  and  medicine  man,  and  his 
profession  is  one  much  sought  for  because 
every  Makamba  is  anxious  to  be  tattooed  in  the 
best  possible  style.  To  perform  this  operation 
perfectly,  three  instruments  are  needed :  a  piece 
of  charcoal,  a  sharp  knife,  and  a  hook  resem- 
bling our  button-hook.  The  charcoal  traces 
the  lines  along  which  the  scarifying  is  to  be 
done ;  the  knife  makes  ever  so  slight  an  incision 
and  the  hook  turns  over  one  side  of  the  skin  so 
that  the  tattoo  will  grow  out  in  the  correct 
manner. 

The  chainmaker  has  an  equally  limited  set 
of  tools.  He  carries  a  pair  of  pliers,  a  steel 
needle  which  looks  like  our  knitting  needles, 
and  a  small  flat  stone  or  board  on  which  to  roll 
his  long  string  of  links.  The  dexterity  of  this 
man  is  marvelous.  He  makes  a  string  of  links 
in  an  instant  and  he  cuts  and  puts  them  to- 
gether while  you  wait. 

The  ring  maker  is  not  so  great  an  expert  al- 
though his  science  demands  that  he  leave  the 
muscles,  arteries  and  veins  of  the  arms 
and  legs  sufficiently  free  so  that  there  is 
no  atrophying  or  impediment  in  the  nat- 
ural flow  of  the  blood.  He  must  take 


WAKAMBA   DENTISTRY 

The  Wakamba  chip  their  teeth  for  the  eating  of  raw  meat.     It  is 

also  a  mark  of  beauty  and  brutal  distinction. 

The  dentist  at  work.  The    completed    job. 

Raw  meat  eating. 


THE  WAKAMBA  71 

care  that  the  rings  about  an  armored  leg  do  not 
press  against  the  flesh.  Many  a  woman  is 
seen  with  a  swollen  arm  where  the  winding  of 
the  thick  wire  has  obstructed  the  easy  and  nat- 
ural flow  of  blood  through  her  veins  and  arter- 
ies. A  woman  who  entrusts  herself  to  an  in- 
efficient coiler  has  to  suffer  the  consequences  of 
his  awkwardness  as  well  as  the  pangs  imposed 
by  her  vanity. 

The  chipping  process  involved  in  the  tribal 
teeth  marking  which  I  have  outlined  is  work 
requiring  considerable  nicety  of  execution. 
The  dentist's  paraphernalia  look  like  a  carpen- 
ter's outfit.  The  chisel  with  which  he  chips  the 
enamel  is  about  two  inches  long  and  one  inch 
wide  and  not  very  sharp.  He  lays  the  boy 
on  whom  he. is  operating  on  his  lap  so  that  the 
head  rests  on  the  thigh,  with  subsidiary  sup- 
port from  the  abdomen.  He  places  the  chisel 
on  the  patient's  teeth  and  hammers  away  at  it 
gently  with  a  light  stick.  This  operation  con- 
tinues for  hours  on  end  and  it  is  repeated  day 
after  day  until  the  teeth  have  acquired  the 
orthodox  tribal  shape.  Their  sawlike  teeth  as 
I  said  before  always  had  me  wondering  in  the 
olden  days  and  now  I  had  the  opportunity,  I 
went  into  this  phase  of  Wakamba  barbarism 
very  particularly;  and  the  results  were  some 


72     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

startling  features   and  some  wonderful  pic- 
tures. 

Stoolmaking  is  another  artistic  profession. 
The  stool  has  the  form  of  the  familiar  milking 
chair.  Three  round  legs  are  inserted  through 
half  the  full  diameter.  Some  of  the  chairs 
have  a  copper  or  brass  band  turned  around  the 
edge,  and  a  brass  or  copper  inlay  on  the  sur- 
face. The  copper  wire  is  placed  in  a  little 
groove  in  the  hard  wood  of  which  the  chair  is 
constructed. 

There  are  endless  ornaments  made  of  beads, 
including  necklets,  armlets  and  bracelets. 
Patterns  artistic  and  not  so  artistic,  are  to  be 
found  in  profusion;  both  the  men  and  women 
produce  these  articles — all  except  the  intimate 
bead  apron  which  the  women  wear.  This  bit 
of  Wakamba  lingerie  is  made  only  by  women. 
The  beaded  ornaments  are  woven  so  finely  that 
American  women  would  be  proud  to  possess 
bags  made  by  the  natives. 

The  natives  also  make  fiber  bags,  which  the 
women  carry  suspended  from  their  heads  by  a 
strap.  The  fiber  for  these  receptacles  is 
stripped  from  the  bark  of  young  saplings  of 
a  certain  tree  and  chewed  by  the  women,  whose 
sharp  teeth  are  most  useful  in  cutting  the  bark 
into  a  thread-like  fiber.  Wherever  the  teeth 


THE  WAKAMBA  73 

have  punctured  the  bark,  a  strip  of  fiber  is 
loosened  so  that  it  may  be  detached.  The 
fiber  is  then  twisted  into  a  string  and  woven 
into  the  desired  form. 

Honey  making  also  may  be  classified  as  a 
Wakamba  industry.  The  beehives  are  hung 
high  in  the  air.  They  are  wooden  cylinders, 
four  feet  long  with  a  diameter  of  a  foot  and  a 
half.  They  look  more  like  idols  or  like  food 
stores  for  the  spirits  than  like  beehives,  but  I 
am  told  that  they  produce  the  sweetest  honey 
to  be  found  in  British  East  Africa.  The  hives 
are  not  unlike  the  native  drums,  and  sometimes 
these  cylinders  serve  both  as  a  source  of 
nourishment  and  as  a  musical  instrument. 

For  hunting  the  natives  use  the  bow  and 
arrow.  Their  arrows  are  the  deadliest  known, 
on  account  of  the  potent  poisons  with  which 
they  are  tipped.  Poisoned  arrows,  however, 
are  more  common  in  warfare  than  in  hunting. 
The  poison  is  prepared  from  the  sap  of  the 
Murai  tree  and  the  fangs  of  the  scorpion. 
When  not  in  use,  they  are  wrapped  in  a  thin 
covering  of  skin  or  fiber  which  comes  loose 
when  the  arrow  is  shot.  The  natives  are  sure 
shots  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  feet.  An- 
other weapon  which  sometimes  comes  into  play 
is  a  double  edged  sword  about  two  feet  long. 


They  also  have  a  wired  hunting  club  which  is 
said  to  do  great  damage  both  in  battle  and  in 
the  hunt. 

The  only  lasting  impression  that  I  took 
away  from  the  Wakamba  was  that  recorded  in 
my  nostrils — and  it  was  not  a  pleasant  impres- 
sion. To  protect  their  skins  from  cracking  in 
the  great  heat,  the  natives  daub  their  bodies 
with  rancid  butter,  the  odor  of  which  is  beyond 
the  vocabulary  of  polite  description.  And  in 
case  of  malaria  or  other  disease,  it  is  well  to 
keep  the  natives  away  from  the  camp  with  an 
armed  guard,  if  necessary,  or  they  will  aug- 
ment the  nausea,  though  they  be  as  much  as 
forty  yards  away. 


THE  WAKIKUYU 

IF  I  were  forced  to  make  a  selection  of  loca- 
tion where  to  spend  the  balance  of  my  days  on 
the  African  continent  I  would  without  hesita- 
tion plant  myself  in  Kikuyu  within  easy  reach 
of  Nairobi.  There  is  some  indefinable  atmos- 
phere of  freshness  about  Kikuyu  which  puzzles 
one  for  an  assignment  of  cause.  Is  it  the  mild 
almost  semi-tropical  climate,  the  purity  of  the 
air,  the  evergreen  aspect  of  the  country,  the 
deliciousness  of  the  all  year  round  fruit,  the 
green  velvet  fields,  the  perennial  soft  murmurs 
of  the  crystal  clear  brooks  or  the  gentle  man- 
ners of  the  natives,  or  probably,  the  combina- 
tion of  all  these  attractive  attributes?  Be  this 
as  it  may  of  the  many  times  I  have  visited 
Kikuyu  there  is  only  one  universal  memory 
impressed  on  my  mind  and  that  is  a  spirit  of 
calmness,  resignation  and  easy  abandonment 
which  makes  the  leisure  of  a  vacation  so  ab- 
sorbingly desirable.  All  these  influences  are 
to  be  found  in  Kikuyu.  If  my  memory  does 

75 


76     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

not  fail  me  I  think  the  average  elevation  of 
that  district  is  a  little  above  4,000  feet. 

I  cannot  recall  a  sweltering  hot  day  nor  a 
chilly  spell  which  one  finds,  for  instance,  a  little 
farther  west  on  the  Mao  plateau.  No  violent 
storms  like  in  Kavirondo  or  Uganda  are  en- 
countered here.  I  believe  the  natives  of  Ki- 
kuyu  have  a  tradition  which  claims  that  the 
great  Mungu  waited  to  watch  the  effect  of 
all  his  other  domains  he  had  created  and  then 
gathered  all  the  choicest  qualifications  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  earth  and  bestowed  them 
on  the  region  of  Kikuyu  to  make  it  a  garden 
paradise. 

To  emphasize  the  spirit  of  the  district  I 
would  add  that  the  people  inhabiting  that 
country  do  not  manifest  the  extremes  of  lassi- 
tude nor  the  violence  which  one  meets  in  al- 
most every  other  tribe.  It  is  remarkable  to 
listen  to  their  quiet  contemplations  uttered  in 
their  gentle  singing  drawl,  and  one  marvels  at 
the  logical,  clear-sighted  deductions  expounded 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  conversation.  I 
often  sat  listening  to  them  when  Father  Cai- 
sack,  their  old  white  friend  and  father,  drew 
them  out.  One  such  conversation  still  stands 
out  in  my  memory,  one  in  which  the  topic  of  the 
war  was  discussed.  Evidently  they  had  heard 


THE  WAKIKUYU  77 

the  news  of  the  war  from  a  French  viewpoint 
with  ample  embellishments  of  atrocities  com- 
mitted. Without  any  animosity  and  with  pre- 
cise exactness  I  was  asked  as  the  latest  arrival 
from  Europe  why  the  Allies  had  not  made  a 
clean  sweep  of  such  human  monsters  as  the 
Germans  were  or  marched  on  Berlin  to  execute 
the  inevitable  law  of  nature  which  we  know  as 
"an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth." 
The  only  answer  I  could  think  of  was  that  re- 
ports in  Kikuyu  must  have  been  slightly  ex- 
aggerated. They  evidently  had  compared 
warfare  in  Europe  with  the  kind  they  knew 
between  themselves  and  the  Masai  in  which 
no  quarter  was  given  nor  mercy  expected.  It 
came  all  the  more  as  a  shock  to  me  because  they 
are  otherwise  such  a  mild  charactered  people. 

I  have  often  thought  that  the  environment 
of  mild  elements  must  have  borne  a  great  in- 
fluence on  their  psychic  formation  and  that 
their  philosophic  speculations  are  merely  the 
result  of  an  even  temperament,  caused  by  the 
suave  topographic,  geological  and  atmospheric 
circumstances,  with  which  they  are  surrounded. 

Measured  in  physical  distance  there  was 
only  a  difference  of  about  fifty  miles  between 
the  central  settlement  of  the  wild  Wakamba  at 
Machakos  and  Nairobi,  the  pivot  of  the  Ki- 


78     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

kuyu  tribe,  but  the  difference  of  the  two  peo- 
ples mentally,  ethically  and  of  instinct  is  almost 
infinite.  This  difference  probably  fastened  it- 
self on  to  me  with  more  emphasis,  because,  this 
time  I  made  the  trip  from  Machakos  to 
Nairobi  by  automobile,  and  was  as  it  were, 
transplanted  from  the  midst  of  one  tribe  into 
the  heart  of  another  in  less  than  five  hours. 

In  a  word  the  Wakikuyu  were  always  a  co- 
nundrum to  me.  Their  gentle  manners,  their 
harmonious  tone  of  conversation,  their  unper- 
turbed attitude,  softened  by  a  pleasing  smile 
and  languid  pose  attracted  me. 

Hence  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  study 
them  this  time  from  a  closer  angle  and  resolved 
to  get  to  the  bottom  of  this  conundrum  if  pos- 
sible. Arriving  in  Nairobi  I  immediately  in- 
quired for  my  old  friend  and  former  com- 
panion of  many  a  stroll  through  Kikuyu,  the 
Rev.  Father  Caisack.  I  found  that  he  had 
moved  away  from  Nairobi  and  was  living  up 
country  to  get  away  from  the  host  of  new- 
fangled social  creeds  of  the  universe  as  seen 
from  the  Nairobi  narrow  vision  of  it,  and  de- 
vote his  time  and  great  talent  to  the  "Kyuks" 
where  indeed  he  has  demonstrated  his  ability 
beyond  question  of  a  doubt.  Then  in  the  se- 
clusion of  the  Mangu  Mission  I  saw  the  Kyuks 


THE  WAKIKUYU  79 

through  the  redeeming  eyes  of  the  old  and  be- 
loved guide. 

The  most  outstanding  feature  among  the 
Wakikuyu  which  impresses  one  immediately  on 
setting  foot  on  Kikuyu  soil  is  a  custom  which 
we  might  regard  as  the  most  horrible  and  in- 
human practice  in  the  world,  were  it  not  for 
the  gentle  nature  and  the  kindly  manners  of 
the  natives.  These  traits  may  be  said  to  off- 
set the  apparently  hard-hearted  fashion  in 
which  they  disposed  of  their  dead. 

On  my  way  to  the  Mangu  Mission  I  was  far 
in  the  lead  and  alone  when,  stepping  aside  from 
the  road,  I  stumbled  on  a  human  skull  hidden 
in  the  grass.  I  picked  it  up  and  found  that  it 
bore  all  the  evidences  of  having  been  recently 
stripped  and  picked.  On  my  arrival  at  the 
mission  I  asked  my  old  friend,  the  Reverend  J. 
Caisack,  an  old  French  missionary,  whether  he 
had  many  experiences  such  as  I  had  encoun- 
tered that  afternoon.  The  story  that  he  told 
me  was  almost  unbelievably  gruesome. 

It  appears  that  the  Wakikuyu  never  bury 
their  dead,  but  throw  their  bodies  out  in  the 
bush  or  high  grass  while  the  sufferer  is  still  liv- 
ing. When  the  sick  begin  to  show  signs  of  the 
approaching  end  the  relatives  carry  the  dying 
person  out  from  the  hut  and  deposit  him  near 


80    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  enclosure.  When  death  has  relieved  the 
misery  of  the  patient,  the  body  left  in  the  open 
soon  begins  to  decompose.  The  odor  attracts 
the  hyenas  toward  the  place  where  the  body 
lies  and  these  body  snatchers  take  the  funeral 
off  the  hands  of  the  bereaved  family.  The 
custom  sounds  ghastly,  yet  when  one  under- 
stands the  underlying  reason  for  it,  it  seems 
less  horrible. 

The  Wakikuyu  are  essentially  a  very  re- 
ligious, and  pensive  people  with  a  philosophy 
which  one  would  not  expect  to  find  in  the  wilds 
of  the  Kikuyu  range.  The  mainspring  and 
the  principle  of  this  creed  is  that  sin  is  the  root 
of  all  evil  and  that  the  result  of  sin  is  death. 
They  further  argue  that  death  is  contagious 
and  that  therefore  no  one  must  touch  the  dead 
for  fear  of  being  contaminated  by  the  germ  of 
death.  Hence  before  a  person  dies  he  is 
carried  out  where  no  one  needs  to  touch  his 
body  after  the  departure  of  the  spirit.  When 
a  person  dies  suddenly  the  body  is  left  in  the 
hut  and  a  hole  is  made  in  the  wall  so  that  the 
hyena  will  enter  and  drag  the  body  out. 

The  consequences  of  these  practices  are  more 
fanciful  than  the  keenest  imagination  could  en- 
compass. Men  who  have  recently  lost  their 


TEMPLES  OF  WORSHIP 

Sacred  tree  of  Wakikuyu  used  in  public  worship 
Construction  of  native  Mission  Church 


81 

mothers  lie  awake  at  night  in  their  grief  and 
hear  the  dreaded  brutes  enter  and  carry  away 
the  remains ;  and  often  they  hear  the  crunching 
of  bones  as  the  intruder  tears  the  body  apart. 
A  mother  who  has  just  lost  her  child  lies  groan- 
ing on  her  couch,  distraught  with  the  loss  of 
the  only  thing  she  loves  in  this  world,  and  while 
she  is  in  the  throes  of  her  great  sorrow  she 
hears  the  howling  of  the  night  prowler  in  the 
distance,  with  its  harrowing  bark,  coming 
nearer  and  nearer  until  finally  the  infant's 
body  is  slung  over  the  neck  of  the  beast  and 
carried  away  to  be  consumed  by  the  scavenger 
of  the  jungle.  But  so  great  is  the  religious 
conviction  of  the  natives  that  no  attempt  ever 
is  made  to  interfere  with  the  feast  of  the  wild 
ogres  and  they  are  allowed  to  go  unpunished 
on  their  unholy  and  gruesome  quest. 

This  feeling  is  so  strong  with  the  Wakikuyu 
that  even  the  dying  themselves  not  only  regard 
the  disposal  of  their  bodies  philosophically,  but 
even  remind  the  bystanders  and  relatives  that 
the  time  has  come  for  them  to  be  carried  away 
because  they  feel  death  approaching.  In- 
stances are  known  where  fathers  of  families 
were  heard  to  command  their  children  to  take 
them  out  of  the  hut  for  fear  that  the  contagion 


of  death  might  attack  their  progeny  and  the 
family  die  out  through  misguided  filial  affec- 
tion and  respect. 

The  Wakikuyu  seem  to  be  a  race  of  philoso- 
phers with  the  stoical  convictions  so  strongly 
impressed  on  their  minds  that  no  sacrifices  are 
too  great  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  their 
reasoning.  The  Spartans  of  old  were  not 
more  insensible  to  pain  and  suffering  nor  to  the 
ultimate  test  of  courage  (death)  than  the 
Wakikuyu  who  on  first  acquaintance  would 
impress  one  as  mere  savages  of  a  low  order. 
It  is  only  on  further  study  of  the  race  that  one 
begins  to  appreciate  their  loyalty  to  their  con- 
victions which,  extravagant  and  needlessly 
cruel  as  they  may  appear,  are  nevertheless  an 
expression  of  a  mental  attitude  which  must  be 
respected  as  we  would  have  our  own  convic- 
tions honored. 

Their  tradition  is  that  death  is  not  a  natural 
event  but  merely  an  accident  brought  about  by 
the  mistakes  and  transgressions  of  the  persons 
responsible  for  the  welfare  of  their  depend- 
ents. It  is  not  looked  upon  as  a  punishment 
but  rather  as  a  logical  though  avoidable  result 
consequent  on  errors  of  judgment  or  action. 
Once  the  person  has  died,  there  is  supposed  to 
be  a  certain  contagion  which  attaches  to  others 


THE  WAKIKUYU  83 

— mostly  members  of  the  family.  The  conse- 
quent series  of  deaths  may  come  quickly  or  at 
length  but  they  are  certain  to  follow.  Touch- 
ing the  body  of  a  dead  person  is  certain  to  kill 
the  unfortunate  one  who  has  the  temerity  to 
lay  his  hand  on  the  corpse.  This  helps  to  ex- 
plain the  seemingly  cruel  custom  of  carrying 
out  the  fatally  ill  before  their  death. 

The  teachings  implied  in  this  strange 
philosophy  form  a  moral  code  which  is  also  as 
inconsistent  as  the  theory  of  death.  For  in- 
stance, there  is  no  sin  in  anything  that  is  ac- 
cording to  the  course  of  nature ;  conversely,  all 
things  contrary  to  nature  are  wicked.  Ac- 
cordingly fornication  is  no  evil,  nor  is  adultery, 
but  incest,  sodomy  and  similar  crimes  are  so 
sinful  that  death  will  follow  as  a  matter  of 
course.  After  circumcision,  girls  and  their 
lovers  may  live  together  without  soiling  their 
souls  and  even  conception  is  not  a  thing  of 
which  they  need  be  ashamed.  Yet  when  the 
young  man  has  made  arrangements  for  mar- 
riage the  girl  looks  upon  him  as  her  master,  and 
will  take  another  lover  as  soon  as  her  first  lover 
has  paid  a  certain  amount  of  the  marriage  price 
to  her  father  or  brother.  Duels  will  follow 
sometimes  but  these  are  merely  an  expression 
of  jealousy,  rather  than  a  punishment  for  mis- 


84     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

behavior.  Sexual  intercourse  before  marriage, 
or  even  between  lovers  who  do  not  contemplate 
marriage,  is  not  considered  wrongful  but  is 
called  "stealing."  "Stealing"  is  a  question  of 
opportunity,  and  opportunism  is  one  of  the 
principal  elements  in  their  moral  standard. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  burial  tradition  is 
that  it  will  take  generations  to  exterminate  this 
practice,  because  it  has  become  part  and  parcel 
of  their  natural  instincts.  I  am  told  that  it  is 
much  easier  to  convert  the  Wakikuyu  to  re- 
ligion than  to  bury  their  dead,  for,  although 
they  will  discard  their  code  in  favor  of  the 
European  principles,  still  they  will  hold  on 
tenaciously  to  their  method  of  undertaking. 
Every  time  a  Christian  dies  there  is  the  same 
struggle  for  the  last  rites  of  Christianity.  In 
some  cases  the  more  advanced  Wakikuyu 
make  an  exception,  especially  when  the  father 
of  three  or  morv.  sons  is  concerned,  and  when 
the  sons  have  worked  in  European  communi- 
ties as  soldiers  or  servants.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances the  boys  will  take  the  consequences 
rather  than  face  the  scorn  of  their  employers 
or  companions,  who  are  members  of  other 
tribes,  and  they  will  bury  their  father  in  a 
decent  manner.  But  even  here  there  must  be 
a  purifying  ceremony  for  ten  days,  during 


THE  WAKIKUYU  85 

which  they  must  not  come  in  contact  with  the 
outer  world  and  banish  all  effects  of  the  con- 
tact with  the  dead  by  a  long  series  of  cleans- 
ings,  routine  sacrifices,  absolutions,  and  soli- 
tary confinement.  This  burial  takes  place 
only  where  a  father  has  three  or  more  sons  who 
are  all  circumcised  and  are  in  good  standing 
with  the  community. 

I  had  always  been  interested  in  the  psy- 
chology of  dancing.  .  Dancing  to  me  is  a  lan- 
guage of  signs  and  an  expression  of  sentiments 
of  the  emotional  side  of  the  man  and  the 
woman.  It  interprets  the  language  of  the  soul 
where  words  would  be  too  familiar  and  expres- 
sion too  risque. 

I  have  never  danced  myself  and  probably  for 
this  reason  imagine  more  psychological  value 
in  this  particular  than  there  really  is,  but  I  see 
more  in  the  impulsive  characteristics  of  races 
in  a  dance  than  I  can  notice  in  their  languages 
or  national  characteristics ;  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  judge  their  characteristics  often  from  their 
dances. 

I  may  be  wrong  and  yet  I  feel  that  watching 
a  dance  is  the  surest  criterion  by  which  to  con- 
firm other  impressions.  It  even  shows  their 
standard  of  social  intercourse  among  one  race. 
A  visit  to  seaside  and  summer  resorts  will  up- 


86    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

hold  my  theory  in  this  matter  better  than  any 
other  argument.  The  very  music  tells  its  tale. 

The  dance  is  to  a  certain  extent  the  moral 
index  of  the  tribe  and  this  generalization  is  es- 
pecially true  with  the  Wakikuyu.  Among  the 
Wanyika,  it  will  be  remembered  the  funeral 
dance  is  the  principal  and  most  solemn  cere- 
mony after  the  death  of  a  member  of  the  tribe 
and  a  direct  call  is  made  to  the  young  women 
of  the  tribe  to  keep  the  clan  in  existence. 
Among  the  Wakamba  there  is  the  witch  dance 
to  invoke  death  on  a  troublesome  member  of 
the  tribe.  Among  the  Wakikuyu  the  concep- 
tion of  the  dance  carries  more  of  a  spirit  of 
pride  for  past  and  present  deeds  of  valor. 
This  idea  pervades  the  whole  dance  and  the 
whole  series  of  passes  and  figures  in  the  dance 
serve  as  it  were  to  demonstrate  what  the  par- 
ticipants have  done  or  are  able  to  do. 

The  dance  begins  with  an  exhibition  by 
about  twenty  young  warriors,  all  circumcised, 
who  walk  about  in  a  brave  manner  as  though 
to  defy  any  challenger.  They  are  in  full  war 
paint  and  carry  their  heads  high.  At  given 
intervals  they  stop  their  march  around  the  field 
and  indulge  in  a  monotonous  pass  in  which 
they  shake  their  heads  up  and  down  carefully 
tossing  their  long  hair  back  from  the  forehead. 


THE  WAKIKUYU  87 

They  go  through  this  movement  defiantly  star- 
ing straight  ahead  and  ignoring  all  onlookers ; 
then  in  a  measured  step  they  stalk  about  ap- 
parently unmindful  of  the  audience  but  aware 
of  their  physical  attractions  which  elicit  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  deserved  admiration  from  the 
women.  They  wear  a  sword  by  their  sides  to 
proclaim  that  at  any  time  they  are  ready  and 
willing  to  defend  not  only  the  tribe  but  their 
lady  loves.  They  have  eyes  for  no  one  except 
the  maidens  who  are  the  chief  witnesses  of  their 
prowess. 

When  the  crowd  is  gathered  around,  other 
young  warriors  stand  about  the  circle  in  a 
group  of  their  own,  each  holding  his  spear 
manfully,  with  his  sword  drawn.  "When  the 
spectators  have  warmed  up  to  the  occasion 
each  outside  group  in  turn  runs  about  the  field 
circling  the  main  dancing  party  and  making  a 
killing  display  in  front  of  the  girls  who  ap- 
plaud them,  sometimes  merely  shouting  their 
admiration,  sometimes  by  running  after  the 
single  dancers  bearing  a  little  twig  in  their 
hands.  The  young  warrior  who  poses  here 
with  drawn  sword  must  have  killed  a  man,  a 
Masai,  or  a  Mukamba  with  his  own  weapon  be- 
fore he  is  allowed  to  make  this  exhibition.  He 
brandishes  his  weapon  in  the  air  with  pride  and 


88    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

glory,  and  the  more  the  women  proclaim  his 
bravery,  the  wilder  become  his  antics.  He 
looks  about  for  his  lady  love,  hoping  to  outshine 
his  brothers  in  her  eyes.  At  present  this  dis- 
play is  merely  a  ceremony  because  the  British 
Government  has  prohibited  the  promiscuous 
killing  of  enemies.  However  the  tradition 
lasts  and  the  girls  take  the  will  for  the  deed. 

Presently  there  arrive  on  the  scene  other 
young  warriors  who  proudly  carry  their 
shields.  They  take  their  turns  at  a  pass  which 
is  even  wilder  than  that  of  their  preceding  com- 
petitors. They  form  a  corner  of  their  own  in 
the  field  and  it  is  evident  that  the  young  women 
are  not  cold  to  them,  as  the  furtive  glances  at 
the  newcomers  soon  become  less  shy.  Once 
the  warriors  consider  the  women's  attention 
sufficiently  aroused  they  dart  out  into  the 
middle  of  the  arena  and  start  a  sham  fight  with 
their  spears  and  swords,  protecting  themselves 
with  their  gorgeously  painted  shields.  Every 
muscle  is  taut  and  all  eyes  are  on  the  alert  for 
a  parry.  They  lunge  at  one  another,  each  try- 
ing to  drive  his  spear  home.  They  run  around 
for  a  favorable  opening,  harassing  their  op- 
ponents as  much  as  they  dare,  until  they  are 
able  to  drive  them  back  and  out  of  the  field. 
The  girls  now  have  no  interest  in  the  dancers, 


WAKIKUYU   "NGOMA"  DANCE 

Just  completed  their  costume,  Lava  stockings  the  feature. 

Their  bronze  muscular  bodies  shine  in  the  sun 

First  pass  of  the  dance 


SOCIAL  LIFE   IN  WAKIKUYU 

Group  of  Wakikuyu  debutantes  watching  the  dance 

Social  scions  decked  out  to  catch  the  ladies  fancy 

A  covy  of  Wakikuyu  flirts 


THE  WAKIKUYU  89 

but  follow  every  movement  of  the  fighters. 
The  conquering  hero  is  applauded  and 
showered  with  smiles  and  flattery.  His  physi- 
cal charms  are  discussed  by  the  fair  ones  who 
vie  with  one  another  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
hero. 

Then  another  bid  is  made  by  the  spearman 
for  further  favors  from  the  women  and  now 
they  begin  a  free  for  all  fight  in  which  all 
comers  are  welcome.  They  prance  around  the 
arena  like  wild  men  and  in  the  confusion  they 
frequently  come  into  unexpected  contact  with 
one  who  is  not  at  that  moment  their  immediate 
opponent  and  wheeling  around  they  attack  the 
newcomer.  Those  who  are  driven  out  of  a  cer- 
tain prearranged  line  are  considered  "hors  de 
combat"  and  must  withdraw  unless  he  become 
embroiled  with  another  warrior  who  is  within 
the  limits.  However,  there  is  little  doubt  as 
to  their  skill  and  courage  in  the  minds  of  the 
girls  and  the  other  spectators.  No  wreath  or 
crown  is  placed  upon  their  brows  for  their  re- 
ward is  to  come  later,  when  the  women  have 
had  ample  opportunity  to  pass  upon  all  the  as- 
sorted feats  of  gallantry  exhibited  by  the  war- 
riors and  dancers.  That  part  of  the  "ngoma" 
does  not  arrive  until  the  last  hour  before  sun- 
down. 


90    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

The  dance  "goes  merrily  on"  while  the  men 
who  are  greased  with  sheep  fat  and  red  lava 
dust,  decorated  with  a  variety  of  feathers,  local 
animal  tails,  heads,  chains,  rings,  belts,  and 
adorned  with  everything  except  clothes,  begin 
to  perspire  profusely,  and  the  mixture  runs 
down  their  backs  and  chests.  But  their  merri- 
ment knows  no  fatigue  nor  intermission  and 
their  endurance  is  worthy  of  admiration.  The 
rays  of  the  afternoon  sun  beat  mercilessly  on 
their  oil-drenched  skins,  which  would  make  any 
man  but  a  native  of  this  soil  collapse.  It 
makes  one  dizzy  to  watch  the  dancers  move 
their  owl-like  heads  backwards  and  forwards 
with  sudden  jerks  that  would  cause  concussion 
of  the  brain  in  a  white  man.  But  perhaps  the 
native  brain  requires  a  thorough  shaking  up  to 
put  it  on  a  level  with  the  human  variety. 

The  most  amusing  part  of  their  corporeal 
decorations  of  war  paint  probably  is  their  imi- 
tation stockings.  It  is  diverting  to  watch  the 
natives  don  their  pedal  finery.  They  go  to  a 
stream  or  water  hole  long  before  the  dance  be- 
gins and,  provided  with  a  piece  of  decayed  lava 
or  pumice  stone,  they  apply  the  wetted  ma- 
terial to  the  calves  of  their  legs  and  draw  all 
manner  of  fanciful  patterns  with  their  finger 
nails.  There  are  no  traditional  designs,  and 


THE  WAKIKUYU  91 

every  dancer  is  his  own  architect.  They  look 
like  owls  in  the  green  masks  which  they  daub 
on  their  faces.  The  visage,  surrounded  by  a 
wig  of  natural  hair,  arranged  in  two  inch  coils 
of  the  smallest  possible  diameter,  and  smeared 
in  sheep  fat  and  lava  dust,  with  their  small 
beady  eyes  gleaming  out,  are  a  sight  for  the 
evil  spirits  to  behold.  The  stoical  look  in  their 
eyes  gives  them  the  appearance  of  a  host  of 
spirits  such  as  Dante  describes  in  his  "In- 
ferno." The  "tout  ensemble"  of  this  hetero- 
geneous crowd  dancing  around  is  a  revelation 
which  only  beholders  of  a  Kikuyu  "ngoma" 
may  enjoy. 

The  peak  of  the  dance  is  reached  only  when 
the  girls  join  in  the  chorus.  Here  is  the 
apotheosis  of  the  "ngoma."  The  girls  have 
had  ample  opportunity  to  choose  the  winner — 
"their  man,"  as  it  were.  The  warriors  by  this 
time  have  no  doubt  as  to  their  choice  and  the 
maidens  also  are  very  definite  about  their  pre- 
dilections. There  is  an  intermission  in  which 
each  "beau"  edges  up  to  his  "belle."  The 
young  lady  looks  radiantly  on  her  "beau,"  the 
young  warrior  returns  her  glance  with  inter- 
est, and  so  the  cast  for  the  "grand  finale"  is 
made  up.  There  is  no  artificiality  in  this  se- 
lection for  it  is  Nature  herself  who  determines 


92    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  plan  for  the  continuation  of  the  "genus  hu- 
manum"  so  far  as  the  Wakikuyu  are  con- 
cerned. 

"Choose  your  partner"  is  the  unspoken  com- 
mand, and  the  young  folks  are  not  slow  to 
obey.  When  all  the  dancers  and  the  gladi- 
ators and  their  mates  are  gathered  they  form 
a  ring  in  the  center  of  which  the  leading 
beauties  are  assembled.  These  lead  a  song  in 
praise  of  the  warriors  and  the  surrounding 
chorus  join  with  them  to  intone  the  motif  of 
the  passes  of  the  dance.  The  young  men  and 
the  young  women  are  face  to  face,  the  hands  of 
the  women  being  placed  lightly  on  the  hips  of 
the  men.  No  suggestive  motions  are  made. 
They  merely  dance  a  slow  step,  beating  time  to 
their  own  singing,  and  increasing  the  time  as 
they  proceed.  They  bring  both  feet  flat  on 
the  ground  and  the  great  crowd  is  silent  as  the 
earth  trembles  under  their  feet.  They  all 
throw  up  their  hands  and  clap  them  time  and 
time  again  above  their  heads.  This  is  a  very 
interesting  part  of  the  ceremony,  and  adds  to 
the  color  of  the  dance.  The  crowd  around 
them  look  on  with  a  certain  jealousy  which 
does  not  escape  the  white  man  who  watches 
the  dancers.  The  emotion  is  justified  because 
the  participants  of  the  "round  dance"  are 


THE  WAKIKUYU  93 

picked  men  and  women  of  their  country.  The 
older  women  are  sorry  that  their  time  is  past 
(as  soon  as  girls  are  married  they  abstain  from 
taking  part  in  the  dance) .  The  older  men  feel 
the  stiffening  of  their  limbs  more  acutely  now 
than  ever.  The  younger  generation  of  both 
sexes  are  eagerly  waiting  for  the  time  to  come 
in  which  they  shall  have  their  fling. 

It  is  noteworthy  also  that  the  men  especially 
show  a  remarkable  physique,  lithe  and  slim, 
with  every  muscle  alert  and  mobile.  They  are 
steady  and  sure  in  their  movements,  displaying 
a  grace  which  is  not  diminished  by  their  savage 
surroundings.  The  girls  are  coy  in  their  de- 
meanor and  gentle  in  their  poise;  their  diffi- 
dence in  the  crowd  demonstrates  as  under  no 
other  circumstances  the  inherent  gentility  of 
their  character.  In  a  word  there  is  no  objec- 
tionable feature  in  any  part  of  the  dance,  which 
might  be  shown  in  the  most  puritanical  society 
without  giving  Mrs.  Grundy  any  excuse  to  de- 
nounce the  great  Wakikuyu  pastime. 

While  I  prefer  to  watch  their  tribal  tradi- 
tions and  customs  I  do  not  overlook  the  com- 
mercial traits  of  the  character  and  in  the  case 
of  the  Kikuyu  this  was  forced  upon  me  more 
or  less  in  a  dramatic  manner.  In  talking  to 
one  of  the  prominent  officials,  I  found  that  the 


94     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

Government  objected  very  strongly  to  the 
dances  for  economical  reasons.  This  same 
question  was  later  emphasized  by  an  English 
functionary.  Shortly  after  we  had  our  dance, 
the  "lid"  was  put  on  tight. 

One  character  trait  which  sets  the  Waki- 
kuyu  above  the  average  East  African  negro  is 
his  thrifty,  industrial  spirit.  His  energy  and 
willingness  to  work  for  a  living  is  so  pro- 
nounced that  "ngomas"  must  be  held  on  Sun- 
days, for  all  other  days  are  working  days. 
The  Wakikuyu  crops  are  planted  and  tended 
with  care,  and  when  the  harvest  comes,  the  na- 
tives make  certain  that  the  birds  do  not  harvest 
the  fruits  'of  their  labor.  They  do  not  entrust 
the  protection  of  their  crops  to  scarecrows,  so 
they  send  their  boys  and  girls  into  the  fields 
from  six  o'clock  to  eight  in  the  morning  and 
again  from  four  o'clock  to  six  in  the  evening. 
During  the  period  preceding  the  harvest,  you 
will  hear  the  hills  and  valleys  ring  with  the 
sound  of  the  children's  voices,  screaming  and 
shouting  to  keep  the  birds  away.  The  children 
are  equipped  with  a  sling,  and  when  vocal 
warnings  are  insufficient,  stones  and  lumps  of 
earth  ward  off  winged  intruders. 

Coffee  growing  is  the  principal  industry  of 
the  Wakikuyu  at  the  present  time,  and  the 


WAKIKUYU   CUSTOMS 

A  living  scarecrow  in  Wakikuyu 

Wakikuyu  warriors  at  the  dance  for  admiration  of  the  girls 


PROFESSIONS 

Wakamba  snake   charmers  training  to  become  medicine  men 
Wanyika  heralds   announce  the   funeral   dance 


THE  WAKIKUYU  95 

boys  and  girls  participate  actively  in  this  occu- 
pation. Thousands  of  Wakikuyu  are  em- 
ployed in  picking  berries  during  the  harvest, 
and  during  the  growing  season  they  are  con- 
stantly clearing  the  ground  and  weeding. 
There  are  some  coffee  plantations  which  em- 
ploy three  hundred  Wakikuyu  all  year  'round. 
The  natives  shell  the  beans,  dry  them  and  store 
them — all  without  the  supervision  of  an  over- 
seer. After  their  day's  work,  which  ends  at 
four  in  the  afternoon,  the  natives  return  home 
to  work  their  own  garden  patches  or  banana 
plantations. 

The  youngsters  tend  the  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats,  while  the  older  boys  look  after  the  herds 
of  cattle.  One  rarely  sees  young  warriors  un- 
employed of  idling  about.  Even  if  the  Waki- 
kuyu are  somewhat  remiss  in  learning  or  adopt- 
ing Christianity,  at  least  they  practice  the  gos- 
pel of  labor.  They  are  not  expert  mechanics 
or  artisans,  although  I  have  seen  infrequent 
pieces  of  woodcarving  which  did  them  great 
credit. 

It  is  not  likely  that  they  will  adopt  Euro- 
pean methods  of  work  nor  do  they  care  much 
for  "modern"  methods.  They  continue  to 
wear  their  own  styles  of  dress  and  look  down 
on  the  young  bloods  who  ape  the  fashions  of 


96     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  white  men.  I  heard  one  missionary  say 
that  the  Wakikuyu  would  give  ninety  percent 
of  their  possessions  if  the  white  men  would  de- 
part from  their  country  and  leave  the  natives  to 
do  things  in  their  own  way.  And  this  opinion 
came  from  one  who  is  the  best  loved  and  most 
respected  white  man  among  them,  a  man  who 
has  been  with  them  for  twenty-five  years. 

The  traveler  is  surprised  at  the  extreme 
sense  of  modesty  which  these  people  have  de- 
veloped— especially  the  women.  I  noted  this 
in  connection  with  their  dance,  but  their 
modesty  is  not  confined  to  any  special  occasion 
and  there  seems  to  be  nothing  artificial  about 
it.  No  matter  where  one  happens  on  the 
Wakikuyu  women,  they  are  always  well 
dressed — or  shall  I  say  well  covered?  Unlike 
the  women  of  other  tribes,  the  Wakikuyu  do 
not  fancy  European  styles  of  dress  but  retain 
the  severe  customs  of  their  ancestors.  The 
traditional  wardrobe  consists  of  three  pieces  of 
skin,  one  to  cover  the  breasts,  one  to  protect  the 
back — this  piece  practically  encircles  the  body 
— and  one,  a  sort  of  small  apron  skirt,  which 
begins  at  the  waist.  This  last  skin  is  never  re- 
moved, even  when  the  wearer  is  bathing  in  the 
stream.  The  first  two  may  occasionally  be 
abandoned  when  the  women  are  working  hard 


THE  WAKIKUYU  97 

and  the  heat  becomes  oppressive,  but  the 
apron,  which  is  a  small  triangular  bit  of  goat- 
skin, is  looked  upon  almost  as  a  fetish,  the  re- 
moval of  which  would  pollute  a  woman's  soul 
for  all  time.  The  large  skin — the  mantle — is  a 
garment  of  small  skins  sewed  together.  All 
of  the  skins  are  continually  soaked  in  castor  oil 
and  lava  dust,  which  not  only  makes  them  pli- 
able, but  which  also  serves  as  a  signal  that  the 
wearer  is  approaching,  owing  to  the  sound  pro- 
duced by  the  contact  and  rubbing  of  the  skins. 
This  system  of  dress  is  not  altogether  agree- 
able to  the  nostrils,  although  it  is  not  quite  as 
offensive  in  this  respect  as  the  costume  of  the 
Wakamba  women. 

The  women  also  wear  a  great  variety  of  trin- 
kets which  serve  to  adorn  their  heads,  necks, 
arms  and  legs.  It  would  be  futile  to  enumer- 
ate all  of  them,  if  not,  indeed,  impossible,  for 
one  finds  new  ornaments  every  day.  An  al- 
most universal  decoration  consists  of  three  tiny 
sticks  placed  in  three  holes  punctured  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  ear-shell.  A  whole  collec- 
tion of  earrings,  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter, 
made  of  pink,  blue  and  white  beads,  hang  from 
an  aperture  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ear  lobe. 
This  aperture  is  quite  large  and  widely  ex- 
tended. Sometimes  a  wooden  ring  is  worn  in 


98    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  lobe  and  the  rings  suspended  from  the 
wood.  The  hole  in  the  lobe  may  be  from  two 
and  a  half  to  three  inches  in  diameter,  so  that 
it  sometimes  serves  as  a  receptacle  for  a  bottle. 
Necklaces  of  beads  are  another  popular  deco- 
ration. Some  of  these  trinkets  contain  sixty  or 
seventy  strings  of  beads  and  they  are  rather 
burdensome  neckwear  for  a  young  girl.  Coils 
of  brass,  iron,  and  copper  rings  about  the  arms 
and  the  calves  of  the  leg  are  common.  Strings 
of  beads  make  effective  head  bands,  but  they 
are  worn  only  at  dances.  Wristbands,  simi- 
larly constructed,  are  in  great  demand  and 
some  of  them  are  genuinely  artistic  creations. 
These  seem  to  be  derived  from  the  bands  which 
the  natives  have  seen  on  European  wrist 
watches.  It  would  be  impossible  to  list  all  of 
the  gewgaws  which  the  Wakikuyu  men  and 
women  wear  in  their  ears.  Key  rings,  key 
handles,  army  buttons,  chains — the  catalogue 
is  long.  The  most  peculiar  ornament  I  saw 
was  a  broken  compass,  minus  the  crystal  and 
the  needle,  but  with  the  dial  intact. 

Hairdressing  is  an  art  with  the  Wakikuyu 
that  might  be  studied  profitably  by  American 
tonsorial  specialists.  Girls  of  marriageable 
age  (13-16)  find  it  essential  to  shave  the  head, 
leaving  a  central  crown  of  about  four  inches 


THE  WAKIKUYU  99 

in  diameter  dripping  with  castor  oil  and  lava 
dust,  the  hair  plaited  minutely,  like  old- 
fashioned  lace  curtain  fringes,  with  an  enticing 
circle  of  oily  red  drippings  about  the  crown. 
The  eyelashes  are  clean  shaven  or  extracted — 
and  they  are  just  as  particular  about  this 
operation  as  the  New  York  business  man  is 
said  to  be  about  his  morning  shave.  The  war- 
riors and  dancers  also  are  finicky  about  their 
hairdressing,  so  that  they  may  cut  an  imposing 
figure  in  the  dance.  The  hair  must  be  just  so 
long  and  no  longer  in  order  to  achieve  the  full 
effect  involved  in  shaking  the  mane  up  and 
down  and  back  and  forward  during  the  dance. 
The  very  young  and  the  very  old  care  little 
about  hairdressing.  Before  and  after  they  are 
in  the  dancing  group,  they  do  not  matter 
socially. 

One  of  the  most  surprising  discoveries  I 
made  was  a  ceremony  of  private  confession 
among  the  Kikuyu  pagans,  a  rite  very  similar 
to  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  Sin,  among  the  Wakikuyu,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  source  of  all  evil  and  unless  the 
sin  is  remitted  and  forgiven,  it  is  bound  to  re- 
sult in  death  or  in  some  great  misfortune. 
Consequently,  when  a  pagan  has  committed  a 
sin,  he  goes  to  the  medicine  man  and  confesses 


100     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

his  misdeed  to  that  grandee,  who  is  thought  to 
be  able  to  appease  the  spirit  of  vengeance. 
Sin  is  not  necessarily  a  transgression  of  the 
moral  code  of  the  decalogue,  but  a  violation  of 
any  traditional  virtue  or  custom  of  the  tribe. 
Sins  against  the  law  of  nature  are  regarded 
with  particular  horror  while  moral  transgres- 
sions which  are  "natural"  are  likely  to  be  con- 
doned. Therefore,  it  is  with  confessions  of 
sins  against  nature  that  the  native  will  seek 
the  ear  of  the  medicine  man.  There  are  un- 
pardonable sins;  incest  and  bestiality.  So 
great  is  this  conviction  that  not  long  ago  a 
girl  who  was  sinned  against  by  her  father,  who 
was  drunk  at  the  time,  committed  suicide  by 
drowning  in  the  Chaina  River.  Although  the 
poor  girl  was  not  consciously  or  even  morally 
guilty  of  the  crime,  she  was  so  ashamed  and  so 
fearful  of  the  consequences  of  the  act  that  she 
ended  her  life  to  propitiate  the  spirit  of  de- 
cency. Sins  of  bestiality  are  partly  propiti- 
ated by  killing  the  animal  which  was  responsi- 
ble for  the  violation  of  nature's  law. 

Transgressions  of  tribal  "mores"  may  be  ad- 
justed by  the  confessional.  The  breach  may 
be  altogether  harmless  morally  and  yet  it  may 
offend  the  spirit  which  guards  the  purity  of  the 
tribe.  For  instance,  there  is  turpitude  in- 


AFRICAN  TYPES 

Wakamba  coiffure  of  the  masculine  genius 

Masai  type  of  warrior 
Boy  with  elongated  head.    Skull  is  shaped  in  youth 


PROPITIATORY  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  WAKIKUYUS 
A  white  kid  is  sacrificed  as  peace  offering  in  a  feud 
Friends  of  the  assaulted  party  helping  him  eat  the  find 


THE  WAKIKUYU  101 

volved  when  the  wind  blows  away  the  thatch 
of  a  roof  at  night  or  when  the  wind  whisks  off 
a  man's  clothing,  leaving  him  nude.  A  hyena 
entering  the  village  courtyard  or  a  jackal 
barking  in  the  public  square  are  forms  of  sin. 
Such  events  although  void  of  human  guilt, 
must  be  atoned  for  by  the  victim,  who  goes  to 
the  medicine  man,  confesses  his  violation  of 
tribal  integrity  and  is  absolved  after  paying  his 
sacrifice  of  a  goat  to  the  medicine  man. 

Sometimes,  when  a  personal  sin  is  con- 
cerned, the  penitent  may  be  so  diffident  about 
his  revelation  that  he  cannot  overcome  his  con- 
fusion and  the  medicine  man  will  hand  him  a 
stick,  bidding  him  confess  to  the  piece  of  wood. 
The  man  steps  aside,  whispers  his  story  to  the 
stick,  turns  the  stick  over  to  the  medicine  man, 
who  casts  away  the  wood,  saying,  "There  go 
your  sins."  A  goat  is  presented  to  the  wizard 
— and  all  is  well. 

There  are  happenings  which  are  not  in  them- 
selves sinful  but  which  are  considered  evil 
auguries  and  these,  too,  are  confessed.  As  an 
example,  a  man  may  be  on  his  way  to  another 
village  and  encounter  a  snake  on  the  road. 
Immediately  he  turns  back ;  for  he  looks  on  the 
incident  as  an  expression  of  the  unwillingness 
of  the  spirit  to  permit  him  to  proceed,  and  if  he 


102     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

is  especially  worried  he  may  go  to  the  medicine 
man  and  the  spell  is  banished  by  the  sacrifice  of 
a  goat.  When  a  woman  throws  a  lump  of 
earth  at  her  husband,  the  act  is  taken  to  mean 
that  she  despises  him  and  he  asks  for  a  divorce. 
Her  exhibition  of  contempt  is  considered  an 
omen  of  the  displeasure  of  the  spirits  and  the 
man  may  go  to  the  medicine  man  to  have  the 
curse  removed.  Whether  he  confesses  or  not, 
the  divorce  invariably  is  granted. 

The  confession  is  known  as  "taika"  which 
means  to  "vomit"  or  "cause  vomiting."  The 
doctrine  is  a  logical  corollary  of  the  philosophy 
which  sways  the  Wakikuyu.  The  contagion 
of  the  evil  effect  of  sin  is  entirely  personal  or 
confined  to  the  family  of  the  transgressor. 
There  is  no  fear  that  outsiders  may  be  infected, 
but  the  contagion  may  strike  any  one  who  is 
connected  with  the  original  offender.  Forgive- 
ness for  touching  a  corpse  may  be  obtained  by 
confession  if  the  deed  was  done  accidentally. 

There  is  a  system  of  confession  which  is 
practiced  when  a  person  is  in  danger  of  death. 
The  sick  man  calls  the  medicine  man  to  his  side 
and  has  the  medicine  skin  placed  on  the 
ground.  The  wizard  enters  solemnly,  with 
measured  step.  He  slowly  deposits  gourds 
filled  with  magic  powders  and  grains  on  the 


THE  WAKIKUYU  103 

skin.  He  then  passes  his  hand  or  a  Kongoni 
horn  (the  Kongoni  or  Hartebeest  is  supposed 
to  impart  especial  reviving  influences,  being 
the  symbol  of  powerful  vitality)  over  the 
patient's  face  and  neck.  This  is  done  to  deter- 
mine whether  or  not  there  is  enough  vitality  left 
in  the  patient  to  hold  out  hopes  of  recovery. 
Now  he  mixes  certain  powders  and  gives  them 
to  the  sick  man  to  swallow.  All  of  these  treat- 
ments have  their  symbolical  and  even  patho- 
logical meaning.  He  watches  the  effect  of  the 
medicine — and  looks  wise.  Presently  he  takes 
four  twigs  with  leaves  on  them  and  places  two 
of  them  under  the  patient's  arms.  He  passes 
the  remaining  two  through  the  aperture  in  the 
patient's  ear  lobes  and  then  throws  the  sticks 
behind  his  back.  The  sticks  under  the  arms 
meeting  at  his  back  shows  there  is  still  sufficient 
strength  left  in  the  heart.  The  sticks  passed 
through  the  earlobes,  if  they  meet  at  the  base 
of  the  cranium,  demonstrate  that  there  is  still 
a  certain  powerful  action  left  in  the  nervous 
center.  This  ritual  also  expels  the  evil  spirit 
from  the  patient's  soul. 

With  the  departure  of  the  evil  spirit,  the 
effects  of  the  spirit's  tenancy  are  treated.  The 
sick  man  is  compelled  to  take  a  mouthful  of 
the  desiccated  contents  of  a  goat's  stomach, 


104     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

which  he  spits  out.    This  measure  also  has  a 
diagnostic  effect  for  if  the  stomach  can  retain 
this  mess  it  shows  that  his  digestive  organism  is 
still  in  good  condition,  as  indeed  it  must  be. 
We    must    recall    that    "taika"     is    vomit- 
ing.     The   patient  is   now   considered  pure, 
and    ready    to    have    his    fate    pronounced 
over    him.      The    augury    is    read    by    the 
medicine  man  from  two  groups  of  pebbles, 
beans  and  buttons,  which  he  shakes  out  of  a 
small  gourd  and  deposits  on  the  cow  skin.     He 
counts  the  two  groups  and  if  the  nearer  group 
is  the  greater,  it  means  that  there  is  no  hope 
for  the  sufferer.     Hereupon,  the  unfortunate's 
friends  take  him  to  a  cleared  space  in  the  brush, 
where  he  is  laid  down  gently  to  await  death. 
The  same  friends  gather  a  few  branches  and 
leaves  and  construct  a  shade  over  him,  leaving 
the  front  open  so  that  the  hyenas  will  easily  find 
the  remains.     A  little  fire  is  built  to  provide 
the  poor  man  with  the  last  comforts  and  to  pro- 
tect him  against  the  cold  night  air,  and  he  is 
left  to  drag  out  his  last  hours  of  misery  as  best 
he   may.     If   the   waiting   is   prolonged,   his 
friends  and  relations  may  occasionally  visit  him 
and  offer  delicacies,  but  usually  the  mental  de- 
pression   following    the    pronouncement    of 
doom,  causes  him  to  turn  over  and  die  without 


A  WAKIKUYU   ENGAGEMENT 

This  native  told  Dr.  Vanden  Bergh  that  he  had  just  become  en- 
gaged to  the  finest  little  girl  in  the  world.     His  spear  is  sheathed 
with  a  plume  to  show  that  his  intentions  are  peaceful.     The  girl 
by  carrying  his  spear  accepts  his  proposal. 


THE  WAKIKUYU  105 

a  struggle.  Many  cases  of  autothanatos  have 
thus  been  known  to  occur. 

Contrary  to  all  traditions  of  other  tribes  and 
countries,  marriage  seems  to  be  an  event  of 
sorrow  rather  than  an  occasion  for  joy  in 
Kikuyu.  I  have  noted  previously  that  when  a 
Kikuyu  maiden  is  in  love  with  a  man  she 
changes  her  attitude  towards  him  as  soon  as  he 
has  proposed  marriage  and  has  paid  part  of  the 
marriage  price.  She  then  looks  upon  him  as 
her  lord  and  master  and  takes  another  lover. 
This  paradox  becomes  even  more  startling 
after  the  nuptials  have  been  completed. 

Of  course  there  is  a  mutual  understanding 
between  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom  before 
the  great  event  "which  holds  the  world  en- 
thralled" is  consummated.  That  very  under- 
standing has  prompted  the  future  husband  to 
visit  the  maiden's  father  or  older  brother, 
bringing  a  few  gourds  of  beer,  and  under  the 
influence  of  a  friendly  drink,  to  discuss  matters 
and  to  come  to  an  agreement  as  to  the  price  of 
the  woman  in  the  case.  Forty  to  sixty  goats 
are  the  usual  price  of  the  young  man's  "passion 
divine."  He  loses  no  time  in  paying  down 
the  first  installment  of  ten  goats,  and  the  non- 
return of  these  is  a  sign  that  the  only-girl-in- 
the-world  has  accepted  him  officially  and  that 


106    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  wedding  may  take  place  as  soon  as  he  has 
paid  off  the  rest  of  the  dowry.  Six  or  eight 
months  pass  before  he  has  paid  in  full,  and 
then  he  awaits  his  opportunity  to  carry  off  his 
bride  by  main  strength. 

To  capture  the  bride  he  sends  three  of  his 
friends  to  waylay  the  girl  at  a  certain  prear- 
ranged spot  which  she  is  known  to  frequent — 
usually  near  the  village  or  at  the  well.  When 
the  coast  seems  clear,  the  young  men  seize  her 
and  she  raises  the  conventional  "hue  and  cry.'* 
She  resists  and  struggles  in  the  most  approved 
maidenly  manner,  but  her  efforts  are,  of  course, 
fruitless.  No  one  comes  to  her  rescue,  and 
presently  she  is  borne  away  to  the  groom,  who 
awaits  her  in  high  glee.  He  carries  her  off  to 
his  mother's  hut,  while  she  fights  back  and 
weeps  continually.  After  she  has  been  placed 
in  the  hut,  she  weeps  for  eight  days  more,  while 
her  husband  remains  away.  Actual  tears  are 
shed,  and  old  timers  in  this  country  maintain 
that  the  thought  of  being  made  a  slave 
prompts  this  lachrymal  outburst,  but  I  fancy 
that  the  tears  are  caused  by  no  very  serious 
emotion.  Be  that  as  it  may,  after  a  week  of 
frenzied  crying,  the  girl  returns  home  to  her 
mother.  She  seems  a  humiliated  soul,  groan- 
ing and  walking  with  weary  steps.  She  re- 


THE  WAKIKUYU  107 

mains  with  her  mother  for  part  of  the  day,  and 
then  her  husband  calls  for  her.  The  girl  has 
the  option  of  asking  her  father  to  return  the 
goats  and  the  other  items  of  the  dowry,  in 
which  case  no  marriage  is  established. 

For  ten  days  the  husband  has  lived  apart 
from  her,  but  when  she  returns  with  her  mas- 
ter to  his  mother's  hut,  there  is  no  further  ex- 
cuse for  delay  in  the  consummation  of  the  mar- 
riage. That  night  they  become  man  and  wife 
in  fact,  and  she  may  no  longer  run  away  from 
her  husband  unless  divorce  has  set  her  free. 
The  bride's  girl  friends  come  and  make  a  great 
display  of  sorrow  on  losing  their  playmate. 
They  stay  for  three  days,  during  which  period 
they  weep  endlessly.  When  they  are  gone,  the 
young  couple  start  life  in  earnest  and  the  hus- 
band sets  about  the  business  of  building  his 
own  hut  and  establishing  his  own  family. 

After  marriage  the  woman  no  longer  is  en- 
titled to  attend  dances  or  other  festivities,  but 
must  work  to  enrich  her  husband  and  look 
after  his  interests.  For  her  marriage  has 
been  a  real  burial  of  all  her  privileges  and  of 
her  freedom  of  action.  Perhaps,  she  has  had 
reason  to  weep  at  the  thought  of  ending  her 
girlhood.  And  yet — to  remain  a  spinster  at 
eighteen  is  considered  a  disgrace  among  the 


108     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

Wakikuyu  and  women  who  are  unmarried  at 
that  age  are  put  in  the  same  category  with  the 
defiled  and  the  uncircumcised. 

The  rest  of  the  Wakikuyu  customs  are  simi- 
lar to  those  of  the  Wakamba  and  other  native 
tribes,  except  in  a  few  details.  The  native  vil- 
lages resemble  those  of  the  Wakamba,  and 
there  are  as  many  huts  as  there  are  wives  in  the 
chief's  harem.  Each  wife  keeps  her  own  chil- 
dren with  her  and  tends  them.  There  are 
granary  huts  for  each  wife  and  the  chief  has 
a  storehouse  of  his  own.  There  is  a  little 
feboma"  for  the  cattle,  the  sheep  and  the  goats. 
Each  head  of  a  family  starts  his  own  village 
and  when  the  young  men  marry  they  start 
their  own  establishments.  Although  the  huts 
are  small,  there  are  partitions  for  the  girls  and 
boys,  with  a  private  apartment  for  the  mother 
and  father.  The  grown-up  boys  sleep  wher- 
ever they  may  find  a  resting  place,  although 
sometimes  there  is  a  spare  hut  known  as  a 
"house  for  boys,"  which  also  accommodates 
over-night  visitors.  When  a  close  friend  calls 
on  the  chief,  the  latter  will  assign  him  to  a  cer- 
tain hut  and  this  hospitality  entails  the  use  of 
the  wife  whose  hut  has  been  placed  at  the 
visitor's  disposal.  She  virtually  becomes  the 


EXTREMES  OF  AGE 
Aged  Wakikuyu  woman 


Wanyika  girls  at  the  wash  tuba 


D 

>• 

D 


UJ 

O 

J 

> 


D 
tt, 
w 
U 


THE  WAKIKUYU  109 

friend's  temporary  wife.  If  a  child  should  be 
born  to  the  wife  and  friend,  it  is  considered  the 
property  of  the  chief. 

The  Wakikuyu  have  two  religions — private 
and  public.  The  private  worship  is  dedicated 
to  the  ancestral  spirits  of  members  of  the  tribe 
and  takes  place  in  their  own  villages  and  huts. 
For  public  ceremonies,  such  as  sacrifices  to  ob- 
tain rain,  the  villagers  from  miles  around 
gather  about  a  sacred  tree  or  grove  of  trees, 
which  is  their  temple.  The  sacred  tree  is  the 
Mogumo  and  it  is  regarded  as  so  sacred  by  the 
natives,  that  any  irreverence  visited  upon  it  by 
outsiders  is  resented  by  the  whole  tribe.  We 
discovered  this  fact  when  we  asked  some  of  the 
natives  to  hold  a  sacrificial  ceremony  under  one 
of  the  trees  for  our  benefit.  We  volunteered 
to  supply  the  goat  for  the  sacrifice,  but  they 
were  indignant  at  our  proposition. 

"How  would  you  white  men  like  to  have  us 
come  to  your  Church,"  the  elder  demanded, 
"and  ask  you  to  perform  your  services  to 
satisfy  our  curiosity?" 

The  argument  was  conclusive,  and  we  had  to 
be  content  with  a  still  picture  of  the  sacred 
tree. 

The  Mogumo  is  an  integral  part  of  their 


110     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

philosophy  of  sin  and  traditional  command- 
ments. No  man  dare  offend  it  at  the  peril  of 
his  life  because  the  transgression  will  be  pun- 
ished even  if  the  offense  remains  unknown. 
The  spirit  of  the  tree  is  as  omnipotent  and 
omniscient  to  the  natives  as  that  of  Zeus  was  to 
the  ancient  Greeks. 

Circumcision  is  prevalent  with  the  Waki- 
kuyu,  as  it  is  with  most  of  the  African  tribes. 
The  uncircumcised  are  as  pariahs,  and  no  girl 
would  think  of  marrying  an  uncircumcised 
young  man,  or  vice  versa.  This  ceremony 
admits  the  boy  to  the  rank  of  warrior  and  the 
girl  to  the  marriageable  state.  The  rite  in  the 
Kikuyu  country  carries  with  it  obligations  of 
taboo,  and  when  a  young  man  considers  the 
taboo  of  the  Kikuyu  rite  an  imposition  which 
he  does  not  care  to  obey,  or  when  there  are  too 
many  species  of  viands  of  which  he  may  not 
partake,  he  asks  leave  to  be  circumcised  accord- 
ing to  the  Masai  custom.  The  medicine  man 
converts  him  to  that  order,  and  no  distinction 
is  made  in  admitting  him  to  all  the  privileges 
of  the  Kikuyu  tribe.  The  circumcision  of 
boys  is  not  entirely  completed,  only  three- 
fourths  of  the  foreskin  being  removed.  For- 
merly, warriors  would  not  be  considered  full- 


THE  WAKIKUYU  111 

grown  men,  even  after  circumcision,  unless 
they  had  killed  a  member  of  a  hostile  tribe. 
The  ceremony  used  to  be  followed  by  head 
hunting  expeditions  consisting  of  ten  or  more 
braves,  but  the  criminal  code  imposed  by  the 
British  Government  has  ended  this  practice. 


THE  MASAI 

IT  is  remarkable  how  nature  itself  directs 
the  separation  of  races  and  tribes  and  pre- 
scribes their  boundaries  through  tribal  in- 
stincts and  desires,  giving  each  what  they  ask 
for  as  suiting  their  inclinations  best.  It  is  an 
open  question  whether  frontiers  are  made  by 
geographic  limitations  as  much  as  by  ethnical 
considerations  or  rather  the  racial  cravings  and 
requirements.  Or  whether  the  surroundings 
and  environment  of  the  races  once  placed  have 
decided  their  cultural  tastes  and  shaped  their 
tribal  wants  in  the  selection  of  primordial 
modes  of  living.  Why  are  pastoral  tribes  and 
why  their  agricultural  counterparts  ?  Did  the 
tribes  select  their  territories  or  did  territories 
determine  their  needs  and  tastes?  One  may 
argue  either  way  or  other  and  support  his  con- 
clusions with  equally  strong  arguments  pro 
and  con.  The  question  would  merely  lead  to  a 
"circulus  vitiosus."  It  is  the  old  problematical 

"was  the  egg  or  the  hen  first"  enigma. 

112 


THE  MASAI  113 

That  question  intruded  itself  on  my  mind 
more  than  any  other  on  passing  the  boundary 
line  between  the  Kikuyu  and  the  Masai. 
There  was  only  a  distance  of  a  hundred  odd 
miles  between  the  two  centers  which  I  had 
picked  out  for  a  study  of  the  two  tribes.  From 
Mangu  we  returned  south  to  the  city  of 
Nairobi  where,  crossing  the  Uganda  Railroad, 
we  moved  another  sixty  miles  due  south  to  the 
best  Masai  settlement  which  offered.  Leaving 
Nairobi  there  was  only  a  thin  narrow  slip  of 
fertile  soil  to  pass  before  we  crossed  into  an 
ideal  pasture  land.  The  dividing  line  between 
red  lava  deposit  of  the  North  and  the  gray 
and  black  loam  undulations  of  the  South  was 
so  marked  that  it  left  an  indelible  impression 
on  my  memory  which  comes  to  the  foreground 
whenever  I  think  of  the  two  races.  The  foot- 
hills leading  to  the  heights  of  Mount  Kenia  be- 
came smaller  until  they  almost  settled  into  the 
corrugations  of  the  vast  grazing  lands  of  the 
Masai. 

Is  the  local  aspect  of  the  bleak  prairie  re- 
sponsible for  the  almost  sour  and  certainly 
bloodthirsty  nature  of  the  Masai  as  contrasted 
against  the  gentle  nature  of  the  green  garden 
fed  indigene  of  the  always  higher  climbing 
Kikuyus?  Or  is  it  the  dietary  effect  of  the 


staples  of  the  territories  ?  Traditional  enemies 
of  ages  they  live  without  ever  a  thought  of 
settling  in  the  domains  invaded  and  conquered 
in  the  many  raids  they  mutually  made  on  each 
other.  Now  then,  is  it  the  innate  instinct  of 
race,  or  the  effect  of  territorial  propensities  in 
the  form  of  nourishment  which  forms  so  dif- 
ferent a  human  being  at  so  short  a  distance? 
And  above  all  why  should  the  Masai  disdain 
vegetables  and  mealies  and  live  on  meat,  blood 
and  milk  exclusively  whilst  their  neighbors,  the 
"Kyuks,"  crave  for  both?  I  leave  the  solu- 
tion to  the  Ethnologist  and  the  Dietitian  to 
settle,  for  I  confess  the  problem  passes  beyond 
my  ken. 

It  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that  the  economic 
expert  looking  at  the  country  from  a  merely 
commercial  standpoint  hastened  a  branch  line 
into  the  coffee  producing  country  to  the  north 
and  did  not  even  cut  a  decent  wagon  road  into 
the  south  without  speculating  as  to  the  why 
and  wherefor.  And  to  tell  the  truth  I  made 
our  stay  in  the  Masai  country  as  short  as  I  con- 
veniently could  and  hurried  our  operations 
with  the  utmost  speed  in  order  to  get  away 
from  so  inhospitable  a  country  where  one 
could  not  even  get  a  drink  of  water  without 
swallowing  germs  so  self-asserting  that  they 


THE  MASAI  115 

made  themselves  almost  felt  crawling  on  the 
palate  and  where  only  living  creatures  of  the 
coarsest  kind  seemed  to  have  survived.  To 
grapple  with  that  element  and  thrive  seems 
impossible  and  that  probably  explains  the 
vanishing  condition  of  the  Masai  since  when 
man  is  pitched  against  the  coarsest  of  beasts 
the  outcome  is  no  longer  a  question  of  surmise. 
So  at  last  the  time  had  come  to  visit  the 
"Masai."  The  redoubtable  fame  of  the  Masai 
was  almost  as  well  established  among  the  white 
men  in  British  East  Africa  and  Uganda  as 
that  of  the  Mohicans  of  our  Red  Indians,  and 
in  mentioning  this  comparison  I  might  add 
that  it  will  not  be  long  before  some  historian 
will  write  a  book  on  the  "Last  of  the  Masai." 
I  was  not  prepared  for  the  disappointment  I 
had  in  store  for  me  from  the  beginning.  The 
Masai  had  given  the  Government  so  much 
trouble  that  they  had  been  driven  back  to  a 
reservation  ;nto  which  no  white  man  was 
allowed  to  go  without  a  permit.  This  regula- 
tion was  strictly  adhered  to  by  Mr.  Ainsworth, 
the  Natives  Commissioner  of  Nairobi.  The 
fact  that  my  contemplated  lion  hunt  with 
spears  by  the  Masai  had  been  adversely  criti- 
cized by  the  local  journal  of  Nairobi  did  not 
make  my  efforts  to  pass  the  border  line  easier. 


116    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

However,  the  American  Consul,  Mr.  Eells, 
sponsored  me  and  that  gave  my  expedition  an 
entree. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  that  trip.  I  was  told 
that  the  journey  could  be  made  by  automobile 
and  consequently  I  had  chartered  a  car  for  our- 
selves and  a  couple  of  mule  wagons  for  the 
saffari. 

The  road  was  very  good  for  about  twenty- 
five  miles.  I  had  been  given  a  very  vague 
idea  of  the  distance  and  the  road  but  the 
farther  we  proceeded  the  more  complicated  re- 
ports became.  Finally  arriving  at  Ngong,  the 
Government  Station,  I  was  told  that  the 
nearest  settlement  was  at  least  thirty  miles 
away.  The  Masai  shift  their  locations  so  fre- 
quently that  no  one  seemed  to  know  where  to 
look  for  them,  consequently  our  directions  were 
very  vague. 

Striking  out  from  the  road  to  the  south  we 
drove  our  car  into  the  open  veld  and  soon  got 
entangled  in  all  sorts  of  obstacles,  dry  creek 
beds  covered  with  big  bowlders  and  rock  crop- 
pings  on  the  plains.  An  amusing  sight  were 
the  herds  of  Grants,  Kongoni  and  Thompsons, 
varieties  of  buck  which  stood  at  attention  ears 
up  and  eyes  directed  our  way.  Then  the 
leader  would  turn  away  and  lead  his  flock  into 


THE  MASAI  117 

safer  regions,  himself  falling  back  to  act  as 
rear-guard  protector.  The  Kongoni  were  the 
last  and  hardest  to  move,  protesting,  as  it  were, 
to  have  their  peaceful  possession  invaded. 

We  got  stuck  in  one  of  the  creek  beds  about 
fifty-five  miles  out  of  Nairobi  and  my  Masai 
guide  whom  I  had  taken  out  of  Ngong  assured 
me  that  we  were  near  Anguruya's  kraal.  I 
marched  ahead  following  my  guide  and  at  last 
after  a  march  over  undulating  ground  I  saw 
across  the  next  creek  a  circle  of  low  dime-loaf- 
shaped  huts  surrounded  by  a  thorn  hedge — 
but  not  a  soul  in  sight.  I  ranged  my  powerful 
glasses  on  the  village  but  not  a  figure  could  I 
see  nor  any  signs  of  cattle  by  which  the  Masai 
villages  are  always  known.  "Not  a  living  soul 
there,"  said  I  to  my  guide. 

"Kulala"  (sleep)  answered  he  in  broken 
Kiswahili  at  the  same  time  urging  me  on. 

While  I  could  not  distinguish  a  sign  of  life 
our  movements  evidently  had  been  noticed  be- 
cause coming  down  the  slope  I  soon  detected 
three  or  four  tall  figures  armed  with  spears 
shining  in  the  sun,  coming  our  way.  I  knew 
then  that  my  quest  had  not  been  in  vain. 

The  tall  spearmen  came  to  a  standstill  in 
front  of  us.  The  leader  accosted  my  guide, 
ignoring  me.  An  exchange  of  greetings  en- 


118    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

sued  carried  on  by  the  villagers  whose  answer- 
ing monosyllables  of  "Ah  ah,"  "eh  eh,"  "oh 
oh,"  in  monotonous  succession  fascinated  me 
until  at  the  end  of  my  guide's  harangue  the 
chief  ( Anguruya  himself )  came  up  to  me,  spat 
on  his  hand  and  held  it  out  to  me.  He  led  us 
into  the  village,  the  two  warriors  falling  in  line 
behind  me. 

Having  learned  more  of  our  intentions  on 
the  way  to  the  village,  he  conducted  me  into  the 
kraal  and  with  a  sweep  of  his  long  arm  and 
long  nailed  fingers  he  bade  me  welcome  with 
"the  village  is  yours." 

Presently  he  dived  into  two  or  three  of  the 
cow-manure  plastered  huts,  and  introduced  me 
to  his  four  wives  whom  he  had  brought  out. 
"They  are  yours,"  he  said,  "and  you  may  pick 
out  whatever  hut  you  please  or  these,"  pointing 
to  the  women,  "will  build  your  own  hut  (mean- 
ing my  tent),  if  you  prefer." 

I  thanked  him  for  the  kind  offer  but  told  him 
that  I  would  not  trespass  on  his  liberal  and 
welcoming  offer. 

The  women  looked  at  me  and  took  one  of 
my  white  hands  admiring  its  color  and  another 
took  off  my  hat  and  pointed  to  my  glossy 
smooth  hair,  exposing  my  dome  to  the  danger- 
ous rays  of  the  sun.  I  smiled,  putting  back 


MASAI   VILLAGE   LIFE 

Village  of  the  plains     Huts  are  plastered  with  cowmanure 

Thornbush   gate   is  opened    in   the   morning  to   let   out  cattle 

Masai  women  in  "dolce  far  mente" 


THE  MASAI  119 

my  hat,  and  made  a  sign  of  thirst  giving  utter- 
ance to  the  word  "madzi."  They  giggled  and 
looked  askance  at  my  guide  and  presently  one 
of  the  ladies  dived  into  a  hut  and  brought  out 
a  gourd  of  grayish  looking,  evil  smelling  fluid. 
Thirsty  as  I  was  I  put  the  gourd  to  my  lips 
taking  care  to  let  the  water  drop  out  on  the 
ground.  While  I  did  not  let  a  drop  of  it  pass 
my  lips  my  nostrils  got  the  full  benefit  of  the 
stench. 

Presently  my  companions  came  in  and  I  in- 
troduced them  to  the  chief  and  his  court. 
The  "freedom  of  the  city"  was  conferred  upon 
them  in  the  same  gentle  and  liberal  fashion 
and  presently  we  settled  down. 

To  describe  the  Masai  one  must  look  at  them 
from  an  altogether  different  standpoint  than 
that  from  which  we  have  thus  far  considered 
the  other  races.  They  are  a  purely  pastoral 
and  Hamitic  tribe,  speaking  a  Nilotic  lan- 
guage, wherein  they  differ  in  all  essentials 
from  the  Wakamba,  Wanyika  and  Wa- 
kikuyu.  A  pastoral  tribe  is  naturally  void 
of  all  central  settlement  and  home  comforts  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  always  traveling  and  leads 
a  nomadic  life.  The  Masai  are  as  might  be 
and  has  been  said,  on  a  continuous  "saffari." 
True,  there  is  a  certain  proportion  of  the  elders 


120    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

who  stay  at  home  and  have  villages,  but  even 
these  travel  from  place  to  place  and  frequently 
it  occurs  that  they  establish  themselves  in  three 
or  four  different  villages  in  one  year.  This 
happens  particularly  when  there  is  a  cattle  dis- 
ease which  they  try  to  escape  by  moving  about, 
avoiding  the  grasses  which  have  been  saturated 
with  the  germs  of  the  dying  cattle.  Some- 
times they  overcome  a  disease  in  this  manner. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  there  is  a  valid 
reason  why  the  Masai  are  a  tribe  about  which 
little  can  be  said  with  regard  to  their  domestic 
habits — for  they  are  not  a  domestic  people. 
They  have  no  pottery,  no  basketry,  no  black- 
smiths, no  grain  fields  or  any  sort  of  agricul- 
ture nor  any  other  kind  of  industry  for  the 
reason  that  whatever  they  need  they  buy. 
Being  a  Spartanlike  stoical  race  they  have  re- 
duced their  needs  to  the  most  rudimentary  re- 
quirements of  nature  disdaining  all  artificial 
supplements  to  living  comfort.  They  are  rich 
in  cattle,  some  of  which  they  acquire  in  raids, 
and,  with  their  war-like  dispositions,  they  are 
the  most  dreaded  tribe  in  East  Africa. 

All  they  look  for  when  they  do  settle  down 
is  water  and  plenty  of  range  with  the  best  kind 
of  grass  for  their  cattle.  Their  villages,  when 
they  build  them,  are  of  the  crudest  kind  and 


THE  MASAI  121 

planned  more  for  the  convenience  and  safe 
protection  of  their  cattle  than  for  themselves. 
They  set  up  a  number  of  huts  in  a  circular 
form  with  a  hedge  of  rough  thorn  brush  sur- 
rounding the  circle,  high  and  thick  enough  to 
prevent  the  wild  animals  from  clearing  the 
fence.  There  are  certain  open  spaces  left  in 
the  hedge  so  that  the  cattle  can  come  in  and  go 
out  in  the  mornings  and  evenings.  These 
openings  in  the  thorn  walls  are  closed  every 
night  when  the  cattle  have  come  home  and  they 
are  reopened  in  the  morning.  There  is  a  pecu- 
liar superstition  connected  with  this  opening 
and  closing.  No  one  is  permitted  to  open  or 
shut  them  out  of  time  for  fear  that  the  spirits 
of  the  tribal  forefathers  will  be  offended  at  be- 
ing shut  out.  We  wished  to  take  a  picture  of 
the  operation  in  daylight,  but  this  was  the  only 
thing  which  the  chief,  Anguruya,  had  to  refuse 
us  and  his  apologies  were  profuse,  but  we  re- 
spected the  idea  and  took  the  picture  in  the 
early  morning  when  the  doors  were  officially 
opened. 

The  interior  of  the  village  is  laid  out  en- 
tirely with  a  view  to  accommodate  the  cattle. 
There  is  an  inner  circle  surrounded  by  a  similar 
hedge  of  thornbrush  with  gates  which  also  are 
closed  at  night  and  opened  in  the  morning. 


122    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

This  enclosure  is  put  up  so  that  the  cattle  may 
be  herded  together.  The  circle  is  propor- 
tioned according  to  the  number  of  cattle  it  is 
intended  to  shelter,  and  it  is  left  open  overhead 
without  any  covering  whatsoever.  The  ac- 
cumulation of  cow  manure  is  enormous  for  the 
space  is  never  cleaned  or  cleared.  Of  course 
the  Masai  have  a  great  many  usages  for  this 
commodity  for  they  all  but  eat  it.  They  use  it 
as  medicine,  as  fuel,  as  plaster  for  their  huts, 
and  even  for  chairs.  Not  seldom  does  one  find 
that  the  center  of  the  cattle  enclosure  is  higher 
than  the  top  of  the  hedge  surrounding  it,  and 
sometimes  there  is  an  elevation  of  two  feet  of 
ground  on  the  inside  of  the  hedge  projecting 
above  the  outside  level. 

The  construction  material  of  the  whole  vil- 
lage consists  of  twigs  and  branches  of  trees  of 
the  thinnest  kind,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
Masai  always  live  in  parts  of  the  country  where 
there  is  scarcely  any  forest  or  wooded  area. 
They  seek  the  pori  country  because  there  the 
best  grass  usually  is  found.  For  miles  and 
miles  around  there  is  not  one  tree  which  gives 
shade  enough  to  relieve  the  midday  heat,  ex- 
cept around  the  edges  of  riverbeds  and  creeks. 
Consequently,  the  Masai  use  light  twigs  for 
the  frames  of  their  houses.  The  rest  of  the 


THE  MASAI  123 

building  material  is  plentiful  because  it  is  cow- 
dung.  And  to  be  truthful,  it  is  the  best  plaster 
to  be  found  because  it  is  pliable  and  goes 
through  the  cracks  of  the  frame  easily  and  it 
goes  there  to  stay.  They  use  tons  and  tons 
of  it.  It  is  antiseptic,  killing  germs  which 
otherwise  would  be  plentiful  in  a  village  where 
the  natives  are  so  unsanitary  and  unclean. 
The  odor  which  would  be  repugnant  to  white 
men  is  perfume  to  the  Masai.  When  thor- 
oughly dried  it  is  waterproof,  for  they  do  not 
allow  the  cracks  and  splits  to  widen  before  fill- 
ing up  the  gaps.  The  outer  finish  is  smooth 
and  even,  and  a  thick  application  covers  the 
whole  building  so  that  in  case  of  rain  the  water 
easily  runs  down. 

The  interior  of  the  hut  is  as  crude  as  the  out- 
side. The  entrance — for  one  may  not  call  it 
a  door — is  about  four  feet  high,  so  that  one 
must  stoop  to  enter.  It  is  so  narrow  that  one 
must  slide  in  sideways  rather  than  stoop  for- 
ward. There  is  an  inside  wall,  very  thin  but 
effective,  which  separates  the  home  of  the 
young  calves  from  that  of  the  human  inhabi- 
tants. On  the  near  and  far  sides  of  the  huts 
there  are  two  alcoves  or  built-in  bedsteads  and 
maybe  a  third  built  up  against  the  front  wall  if 
it  is  desired,  to  curtail  the  accommodations  of 


124     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  calves.  The  space  left  between  these  bed- 
steads holds  the  fireplace  in  the  center,  with 
squatting  room  for  the  members  of  the  family. 
There  are  four  tiny  posts  in  the  center  of  the 
hut  which  may  be  utilized  as  chairbacks. 
There  is  always  a  fire  smoldering  in  the  grate, 
or  rather,  between  the  three  stones  which  take 
the  place  of  a  grate.  The  beds  remind  one  of 
the  couches  of  the  early  Visigoths  and  Franks 
because  they  are  composed  of  a  number  of 
skins  and  cowhides  piled  on  top  of  one  another. 
These  skins  are  cured  but  not  tanned  so  that  I 
cannot  vouch  for  their  being  a  soft  couch. 
The  only  utensils  or  substitutes  for  crockery 
are  long  oval  gourds  used  for  water  and  milk. 
They  have  no  cooking  pots  of  any  description 
because  they  don't  cook  mealies  or  other  vege- 
tables. They  live  entirely  on  meat  and  milk. 
It  is  said  that  some  of  the  Masai  eat  mealies 
clandestinely  only,  and  that  must  be  so,  be- 
cause I  could  find  no  traces  of  any  in  the  vil- 
lages which  I  visited,  although  I  made  it  a 
point  to  look  for  these  elusive  articles.  For 
spitirons  on  which  to  turn  their  meat,  they  use 
the  ever  handy  twig  or  perhaps  a  discarded 
lower  point  of  a  spear;  from  all  of  which  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  Masai  live  a  most  primi- 
tive life  and  have  very  few  wants. 


THE  MASAI  125 

Yet  they  were  a  hardy  race  before  the  en- 
trance of  the  white  man.  I  use  the  word 
"were"  advisedly,  because  since  they  were  for- 
bidden to  raid  and  wage  war  with  their  neigh- 
bors they  have  become  more  indolent  and  have 
acquired  habits  of  overindulging  in  sexual  ex- 
cesses which  threaten  to  destroy  the  race.  The 
rate  of  childbirth  among  them  is  alarming  and 
it  is  said  by  some  authorities  that  there  are  no 
more  than  20,000  Masai  left  in  the  country. 
This  statement  was  partly  borne  out  by  the 
fact  that  there  were  very  few  children  in  the 
villages  which  we  visited.  What  effect  insuf- 
ficient housing  has  to  do  with  this  condition  is 
a  study  well  worth  entering  into,  because  when 
one  considers  that  their  huts  are  only  14  feet 
long,  7  feet  deep  and  6  feet  high  and  a  great 
part  of  these  is  occupied  by  the  calves,  and 
that  furthermore  there  is  absolutely  no  light  or 
fresh  air  to  be  found  in  this  space,  it  would 
seem  to  argue  that  there  is  little  chance  for  the 
embryo  of  the  human  species  to  develop. 

Such  mothers  as  one  does  find  in  these  vil- 
lages are  extremely  proud  of  their  offspring 
and  treat  them  with  the  utmost  care.  I  was 
asked  by  some  of  these  tender  mothers  to  give 
them  medicines  for  their  children  and  saw  on 
different  occasions  where  they  fed  them  on 


126 

butter  after  weaning.  That  the  youngsters 
did  not  like  the  diet  was  evident  because  their 
mothers  would  close  their  tiny  nostrils  with  a 
lump  of  butter  and  force  the  food  down  their 
mouths  in  large  quantities,  at  which  the  little 
beggars  balked  with  arms  and  legs  beating  in 
the  air. 

The  women  are  a  lazy  collection,  indolent 
and  lackadaisical  to  a  degree.  They  have 
nothing  to  do  except  build  the  huts  when  they 
change  location  and  to  fetch  water  from  the 
waterholes  once  or  twice  a  day.  The  men 
themselves  cook  their  own  meat,  roasting  and 
turning  it  on  the  fire  as  they  eat.  There  is  no 
agriculture  to  keep  them  busy  like  the  Waki- 
kuyu  and  other  tribes.  They  drag  their  feet 
along  the  ground  as  they  walk.  This  slouch- 
iness,  however,  must  be  explained  by  the  heavy 
coils  of  brass  and  steel  wire  which  they  wind 
about  their  nether  limbs.  The  coils  are  flush 
with  the  knee  and  the  ankle,  and  are  made  of 
heavy  steel  wire  and  polished  so  that  they  shine 
in  the  sun  and  dazzle  the  eye.  They  cannot 
weigh  an  ounce  under  twelve  or  thirteen 
pounds  and  are  absolutely  immovable.  They 
are  flattened  out  at  the  bottom  and  run  a  little 
wider  at  the  knee  so  as  to  give  that  joint  a 
little  play.  The  effect  on  their  feet  is  dis- 


JUST  WIVES 

Masai  queens  at  the  investiture  of  the  Chief. 

This  Mumyika  owner  of  a  small  harem  of  four  is  particular  about 

his  manioc  root 


THE  MASAI  127 

astrous  in  so  far  that  the  foot  is  callous  and  the 
skin  on  the  upper  part  almost  as  hard  as  the 
sole  of  the  feet.  They  try  to  protect  the  upper 
part  of  their  feet  to  a  certain  extent  by  insert- 
ing a  rag  between  the  foot  and  the  wire  but 
owing  to  the  heavy  weight  of  these  ornaments 
the  soft  skin  becomes  hard  nevertheless.  They 
have  the  same  kind  of  ornamentation  for  the 
upper  and  lower  limbs  of  the  arms,  although 
these  coils  are  of  a  lighter  material.  The  steel 
wire  of  which  this  armlet  is  made  weighs  be- 
tween eight  and  nine  pounds  and  makes  the 
movements  of  their  arms  extremely  awkward. 
The  signs  of  callous  can  be  seen  better  here 
than  on  the  feet  because  there  is  no  protection 
whatsoever  on  the  wrist  and  at  the  upper  part 
of  the  elbow  joint. 

Most  women  sport  the  coils  on  the  upper 
and  lower  right  arm  and  on  the  lower  left  arm 
but  in  all  cases  they  cover  the  arm  from  the  el- 
bow down  to  the  wrist.  The  poor  women  lag 
terribly  under  the  heavy  weight  of  these  orna- 
ments but  they  would  no  more  take  them  off 
than  our  ladies  would  move  in  society  without 
their  trinkets.  To  make  matters  worse,  they 
cannot  take  them  off  even  for  a  rest  or  a 
change  occasionally,  or  when  they  are  sick,  but 
they  must  carry  this  dead  weight  with  them 


128     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

from  the  moment  it  is  put  on  until  the  wearer 
becomes  so  aged  that  she  can  no  longer  drag 
the  weight. 

There  is  also  the  necklace  of  the  same  size 
of  wire  as  the  leglet.  This  ornament  is  twisted 
in  three  or  four  stiff  coils  about  the  neck  and 
from  the  fifth  round  it  widens  out  until  the  last 
coils  surround  the  shoulders.  This  thing  bobs 
up  and  down  as  they  walk  and  when  they  stoop 
the  spiral  comes  down  over  their  head  sur- 
rounding them  with  as  splendid  a  steel  armor 
as  ever  the  old  Frankish  warriors  wore  in 
battle.  This  spiral  looks  very  much  like  a  clock- 
spring  of  enormous  size.  To  complete  their 
ornamentation  they  have  two  flat  coils  of 
brass,  suspended  by  a  strip  of  rawhide,  hang- 
ing from  the  lobes  of  their  ears.  These  coils 
hang  down  on  the  slope  of  the  neck  towards 
the  breasts  and  sometimes  they  come  down  as 
far  as  the  breasts.  Besides  these  there  are  a 
number  of  other  necklaces  of  beads,  turquoise 
chains  and  the  like.  A  favorite  decoration, 
for  instance,  is  a  rope  of  small  copper  chains 
which  they  hang  in  their  ears  and  wind  around 
over  their  heads.  These  I  have  only  seen  on 
the  favorite  wives  of  the  chiefs  and  they  lend 
the  wives  the  appearance  of  Egyptian  god- 
desses. 


THE  MASAI  129 

The  women's  wearing  apparel  is  very  much 
like  that  of  the  Wakikuyu — skins  which  are 
extremely  well  tanned  and  very  soft,  which 
softness  is  increased  by  the  great  amount  of 
grease  in  which  they  are  soaked.  The  women 
here,  as  among  the  Wakikuyu,  are  circumcised 
and  wear  the  little  apron  of  circumcision. 
They  usually  wear  a  piece  of  Americani  or 
calico  for  loin  cloth  and  sometimes  a  mantle 
of  the  same  material. 

The  men  wear  only  the  short  Roman  cloak 
of  calico  or  sometimes  of  skin,  and  do  not  ex- 
hibit the  slightest  modesty  about  their  persons. 
They  wear  no  ornaments  around  the  arms  or 
legs  except  a  small  strip  of  skin  in  case  they 
have  entered  into  some  agreement  with  an- 
other warrior.  They  are  fond  of  a  string  or 
bracelet  of  elephant  hair  or  of  the  tail  whiskers 
of  a  giraffe  with  an  amulet  attached.  The 
reason  for  their  disregard  of  ornaments  is 
probably  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they  can- 
not be  too  light  on  a  hunt  or  in  battle  where 
they  need  all  their  strength  and  agility  without 
being  weighed  down  by  useless  impediments. 

One  cannot  say  enough  about  the  great 
courage  of  the  Masai  warriors — which  virtue 
is  the  only  one  they  claim  or  care  about.  To 
be  dubbed  a  coward  among  the  Masai  warriors 


130    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

is  sufficient  reason  to  commit  suicide  or  to  kill 
the  man  who  uttered  the  taunt.  Their  train- 
ing is  wonderful,  and  as  battle  and  the  chase 
are  their  only  occupations,  they  are  naturally 
always  in  good  trim. 

The  Masai  may  be  said  to  have  a  standing 
army  of  great  military  strength  and  it  is  amaz- 
ingly well  organized.  It  is  this  army  which 
has  held  the  other  and  surrounding  tribes  in 
such  great  awe  of  the  Masai.  The  Masai 
raided  and  waged  war  from  the  coast  to  the 
Victoria  Lake  and  their  fame  as  warriors  was 
so  far  spread  that  from  Mount  Kenia  to  the 
Kilimanjaro  the  tribes  were  in  fear  and  trem- 
bling when  the  news  was  spread  that  the  Masai 
were  on  the  warpath  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  main  saffari  highways  were  time  and 
time  again  threatened  by  their  rebellious  out- 
breaks so  that  our  saffari  in  1896,  for  instance, 
had  to  take  the  German  route  because  the 
Masai  were  out  for  trouble.  On  such  oc- 
casions the  government  closed  the  main  arteries 
of  traffic  because  they  could  not  undertake  the 
responsibility  for  attacks  from  this  dreaded 
tribe.  In  due  course  of  time  the  government 
won  out  over  them  but  not  without  many  a 
skirmish  and  occasional  losses. 


THE  MASAI  131 

Owing  to  the  suppression  of  their  raiding 
proclivities  and  the  gradual  closing  in  of  the 
tribe  in  certain  boundaries  of  the  reservation, 
the  military  organization  of  the  Masai  has 
more  or  less  fallen  into  abeyance  so  far  as  mar- 
tial enterprises  are  concerned  but  it  is  still 
maintained  for  hunting  and  for  the  continu- 
ance of  their  traditional  existence  as  a  warlike 
tribe. 

Their  military  organization  was  for  all  prac- 
tical  purposes  a  wonderful  institution.  There 
were  three  sections  which  composed  their 
standing  army.  The  three  sections  included 
so  many  classes  or  years  of  circumcision. 
From  this  it  may  be  imagined  that  circuit 
cision  and  military  service  were  closely  intei> 
woven  in  their  effects  and  causes.  Circum- 
cision meant  official  conscription  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  circumcised  class.  These  classes 
were  organized  all  over  the  tribe  about  every 
four  years  and  became  known  as  the  Eletets 
ages  or  Pororrs  of  such  and  such  a  name;  for 
instance — II  Kidmei,  camp  or  sirit  formations. 
These  camps  and  sirit  formations  were  appor- 
tioned according  to  geographical  location,  and 
they  naturally  were  formed  of  the  different 
clans  or  gilata. 


132    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

The  ceremony  of  the  circumcision  is  known 
as  the  E-unoto  ceremony  which  is  called  by  the 
chief  medicine  man  after  due  consultation  of 
the  spirits  and  after  formal  auguries  have  been 
taken.  Leaders  or  Aigwenani  are  appointed 
by  the  chief  medicine  man.  The  appointee  is 
not  notified  before  the  ceremony  for  fear  that 
he  might  do  something  to  disqualify  himself. 
He  in  turn  appoints  two  Sirits  or  Lieutenants 
who  command  their  own  battalions  made  up 
of  the  different  clans  of  his  geographical  loca- 
tion. It  often  happens  that  these  sirits  are 
at  odds  owing  to  their  clan  traditions  of  prow- 
ess. This  forms  the  chief  source  of  grief  for 
the  Aigwenani  who  must  use  all  the  diplomacy 
at  his  command  to  prevent  serious  misunder- 
standings. 

If  a  warrior  at  the  ceremony  of  his  circum- 
cision blinks  an  eye  or  shows  any  sign  of  pain 
he  is  disqualified  and  looked  upon  as  a  coward 
by  his  comrades  and  marked  for  life  to  such 
an  extent  that  he  is  unable  to  find  a  spouse  even 
after  he  has  killed  his  man  or  his  lion.  Cour- 
age is  the  capital  virtue  of  the  Masai;  he  who 
lacks  this  virtue  or  flinches  at  a  danger  is  for- 
ever outlawed.  After  circumcision  they  al- 
ways go  in  pairs  and  if  one  runs  away  from 


THE  MASAI  133 

danger  he  is  reported  to  the  Aigwenani  or  the 
Sirit  of  his  command.  Thus,  not  only  the 
"esprit  de  corps"  but  the  morale  is  kept  up  to 
the  highest  standard. 

Each  warrior's  shield  proclaims  to  which 
sirit  and  year  of  circumcision  he  belongs  and 
this  indicates  also  his  clan  and  the  geographical 
section  from  which  he  comes.  When  the  cere- 
mony of  the  circumcision  is  over,  the  day  for 
the  solemn  handing  over  of  the  country  to  the 
guardianship  of  the  newly  made  warriors  has 
arrived.  The  principal  medicine  man,  seated 
on  a  chair  enthroned  on  a  pile  of  cowslips,  re- 
ceives them  and  shakes  hands  with  each  war- 
rior as  they  pass  him  in  review.  On  such  oc- 
casions the  married  warriors  may  not  leave 
their  huts  while  the  older  and  outgoing  class  is 
clothed  with  old  men's  garments  and  stands  up 
while  the  younger  sit  down.  At  this  time  the 
chief  medicine  man  addresses  the  new  warriors 
and  warns  them  that  the  safety  of  their  tribe 
and  country  is  now  in  their  hands,  and  that 
they  must  guard  it  at  the  cost  of  their  blood 
and  lives  even  as  their  fathers  have  kept  the 
country  intact  and  made  it  possible  for  them  to 
become  the  proud  guardians  of  an  unbeaten 
and  independent  race.  After  this,  each  goes 


134     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

to  his  own  home  and  gathers  his  belongings 
wherewith  he  departs  for  the  kraal  to  which  his 
sirit  has  been  assigned. 

The  older  men  and  outgoing  warriors  leave 
the  warrior  kraal  and  take  up  their  abode  in 
the  kraals  of  the  chief  and  elders  to  get  mar- 
ried and  raise  a  family.  The  younger  war- 
riors move  from  place  to  place  as  the  location 
of  their  cattle  herds  changes.  They  go  out 
raiding  and  looking  for  opportunities  to  enrich 
the  tribe  with  new  cattle  and  booty.  They 
concentrate  where  there  is  most  danger  from 
the  wild  animals  which  follow  their  herds  and 
woe  to  the  man  who  loses  a  large  number  of 
cattle  without  giving  a  good  account  of  himself 
or  warning  the  warriors  of  the  danger  con- 
fronting their  cattle.  Since  the  government 
has  stopped  all  raiding,  the  attention  of  the 
Masai  is  more  and  more  concentrated  on  the 
well  being  of  their  cattle. 

The  younger  Masai  warriors,  who  live  apart 
from  their  older  clansmen,  have  corresponding 
classes  of  girls,  who  are  of  the  same  circum- 
cision ages,  and  with  whom  they  live  in  abso- 
lute free  love — without  being  reproved  for  it. 
Yet  there  is  a  certain  sense  of  honor  among 
them  which  seems  to  .consider  as  a  virtue  absti- 
nence from  this  promiscuous  life.  This  infor- 


THE  MASAI  135 

mation  I  had  from  the  chief  Anguruya,  who 
while  we  were  watching  the  young  bucks  dance, 
told  me  that  every  man  who  went  up  to  the 
girls,  for  whose  special  benefit  this  war  dance 
was  given,  made  it  known  to  these  girls  that 
he  was  virginal  and  as  yet  had  not  touched  a 
woman  by  turning  his  head  over  the  girl's  face 
and  touching  her  with  his  long  greasy  braids. 
It  was  remarkable  how  many  of  the  young 
men  made  this  a  point.  That  they  must  be 
perfectly  truthful  about  it  would  be  concluded 
from  the  very  fact  that  their  fellow  warriors 
who  live  in  the  same  kraal  with  them  are  called 
upon  by  traditional  custom  to  deny  the  implied 
fact  of  another's  virginity  by  a  statement  to 
that  effect  should  one  of  them  dare  to  profess 
this  virtue  without  having  the  right  to  do  so. 
There  are  a  number  of  minor  ceremonies 
which  are  performed  at  different  occasions  to 
celebrate  certain  events  in  the  lives  of  the  cir- 
cumcision classes.  For  instance,  there  is  a  feast 
when  the  young  warriors,  after  sufficient  time 
has  been  given  them  to  grow  their  hair  into  the 
warrior's  pigtails,  depart  for  their  respective 
kraals.  The  outgoing  warriors  then  appear 
before  their  chief  with  the  younger  men  and 
their  leader  is  spat  upon  by  the  chief  as  a  bless- 
ing. The  younger  men  challenge  the  older 


136     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

ones  and  meet  one  another  in  battle  until  the 
older  men  finally  yield  to  the  younger  as  their 
masters  at  arms.  Again,  when  they  used  to 
go  to  war,  the  older  men  would  spill  milk  and 
honey  on  the  ground  in  token  that  they  would 
be  victorious  and  the  women  would  sprinkle 
them  with  milk  from  a  milk  gourd.  When  the 
warriors  went  to  battle  and  arrived  at  the  place 
of  combat  each  fighter  planted  his  spear  in  the 
ground,  challenging  the  enemy,  saying  that  he, 
the  son  of  so  and  so,  would  not  retire  but  would 
die  or  conquer  on  that  spot.  If  the  enemy 
fled,  they  killed  as  many  as  possible.  If  the 
men  lingered  on  the  raid,  the  women,  holding 
small  gourds  covered  with  grass,  waited  and 
prayed  for  their  safe  return.  The  women  also 
used  to  keep  fresh  milk  in  the  gourds  for  the 
refreshment  of  the  warriors  when  they  re- 
turned. 

When  they  visit  the  villages  of  the  elders  or 
are  summoned  for  a  lion  hunt  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  elders'  village  they  walk  up  slowly 
and  solemnly  toward  the  gate.  If  the  children 
know  of  their  coming  they  go  out  to  meet  them 
and  the  warriors  lay  their  hands  on  the  little 
heads  in  solemn  silence.  They  march  up  to 
the  gate  in  a  measured  step,  sober  minded  and 
calm.  At  the  gate  of  the  village  the  chief  re- 


THE  MASAI  137 

ceives  them,  shaking  their  hands  as  the  men 
pass  in  single  file.  They  then  turn  toward  the 
huts  of  the  princesses  or  chief's  wives  and  at  a 
respectful  distance  await  the  pleasure  of  the 
ladies.  They  stand  at  attention  with  their 
spears  in  their  hands  and  their  shields  resting 
on  the  ground.  When  the  ladies  finally  ar- 
rive, the  warriors  pass  from  the  left  to  the  right 
shaking  hands  with  them  and  bidding  them 
welcome.  At  the  end  of  the  salutation  the 
warriors  go  to  the  huts  of  the  ladies  they  know 
best  and  plant  their  spears  at  the  entrance  as 
a  token  that  they  are  there,  without  wishing  to 
hide  either  their  identity  or  the  fact  of  their 
presence. 

They  do  not  eat  in  these  huts  nor  do 
they  eat  at  any  time  with  the  women,  but 
they  seek  a  spot  outside  the  village  near  the 
waterhole  or  well  where  they  build  their  fire 
and  grill  their  own  meat.  The  warriors  do 
not  drink  anything  stronger  than  milk  or  water 
for  "fire  water"  injures  their  fighting  ability. 
Neither  men  nor  women  smoke^but  they  use 
snuff  in  great  quantities.  In  the  villages  of 
the  elders,  liquor  brewed  of  sugar  cane  is  very 
welcome,  but  it  must  be  smuggled  in  and  used 
clandestinely  as  the  open  use  of  it  is  looked 
upon  with  great  displeasure  by  the  chief  who, 


138     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

however,  may  indulge  in  it  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent also  clandestinely. 

For  the  rest,  the  Masai  have  very  few  habits 
and  customs  which  are  of  any  importance. 
Their  circumcision  is  a  preparation  for  the 
young  men  to  become  warriors  and  they  are 
taught  how  to  shoot  birds  with  their  arrows  and 
learn  how  to  throw  a  bullock,  etc.  The  cir- 
cumcision itself  is  accompanied,  as  in  other 
tribes,  with  senseless  ceremonies.  The  nam- 
ing of  a  child  and  the  funeral  ceremonies  are 
also  with  slight  variations  similar  to  those  of 
other  tribes  and  therefore  it  matters  little 
whether  we  go  farther  into  these  details. 

But  I  part  with  the  Masai  with  the  greatest 
of  regret.  It  is  not  only  a  pity  but  a  shame 
that  so  fine  a  race  as  the  Masai  should  be 
doomed  to  extinction.  They  are  now  not  only 
a  decadent  race  but  they  are  on  the  verge  of 
absolute  dissolution  as  a  tribe  and  as  a  people. 
For  this  there  are  a  number  of  causes  each  of 
which  could  be  avoided  with  a  little  organized 
care.  I  shall  quote  three  reasons  why  the 
Masai  are  on  the  decline.  The  first,  no  doubt, 
is  the  fact  that  they  only  many  after  the  war- 
riors have  left  the  ranks  and  are  settled  as  old 
men  in  the  kraals  of  the  elders.  The  second  is 
that  free  love  amongst  the  Morans  and  the 


THE  MASAI  139 

younger  generation  of  women  leads  to  the  in- 
capacitating of  the  girls  for  motherhood.  The 
third  is  that  there  is  a  steady  increase  of  the 
dreaded  disease  of  syphilis  among  them,  owing 
to  their  habits  of  indolence  which  were  brought 
on  by  the  prohibition  of  raiding  and  warfare. 

It  is  pitiful  to  see  how  few  children  there  are 
in  the  various  kraals  or  villages.  The  village 
in  which  we  stayed  for  a  week  was  composed 
of  about  thirty  huts,  each  hut  representing  a 
woman  of  mature  age  and  a  wife  of  a  Masai 
elder.  Of  the  thirty  wives  there  were  only 
three  who  had  children  under  the  age  of  nine. 
The  chief  himself  had  two  children  by  the  four 
wives  who  were  living  in  that  particular  vil- 
lage. The  other  twenty  wives  who  were  living 
elsewhere  but  always  under  his  control  and 
consequently  unable  to  have  children  by  other 
men,  may  have  been  barren  or  not,  but  they 
could  no  longer  be  counted  on  as  producers  of 
the  human  race.  Furthermore,  there  were 
only  five  other  men  in  the  whole  village,  among 
whom  the  other  women  were  distributed. 
Some  of  these  men  were  too  old  to  reproduce 
and  some  of  the  women  were  also  past  produc- 
tion. 

The  younger  men  and  warriors  who 
visited  the  village  during  the  lion  hunt  made 


140    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

their  abode  in  the  huts  of  the  chief's  wives  and 
other  women's  huts  which  were  assigned  to 
them.  These  warriors  enjoy  the  use  of  the 
women  whose  hut  they  occupy  for  the  time  be- 
ing, but  the  children  which  might  be  born  of 
such  cohabitation  never  see  the  light  of  day  out 
of  respect  for  the  elders  and  the  husbands  of 
the  women  in  question.  They  would  not  dare 
to  let  such  children  be  born  for  fear  that  the 
husband  might  abandon  them  or  for  fear  of 
a  worse  fate  which  might  befall  them.  There 
were  only  two  girls  in  the  village  between  the 
ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  who  were  about 
to  be  turned  loose  in  the  Moran  villages. 
They  were  the  central  point  of  attraction  in 
the  dance  which  was  held  the  evening  before 
the  lion  hunt.  They  were  coy  and  shy  and  it 
seemed  to  me  a  pity  that  these  girls  were  to  be 
sacrificed  to  so  insane  a  policy  which  will  make 
them  absolutely  useless  from  the  standpoint  of 
production  of  their  own  kind. 

This  brings  me  to  the  second  reason  for  the 
extinction  of  the  race;  free  love  among  the 
warrior  classes.  This  is  not  merely  a  theory; 
it  is  an  accomplished  fact.  In  olden  times  the 
arrival  of  a  girl  baby  was  not  by  any  means 
looked  upon  as  a  welcome  intrusion.  If  she 
happened  to  be  one  of  twins  she  was  killed. 


THE  MASAI  141 

If  she  was  in  any  way  deformed  or  weakly, 
the  same  fate  awaited  her,  hence  a  scarcity  of 
women.  Now,  of  course,  they  are  all  welcome. 
While  formerly  every  father  was  looking  for 
warrior  sons,  now  he  is  satisfied  with  girls, 
because  the  need  of  sons  is  no  longer  felt  so 
keenly.  But  the  fact  remains  that  there  are 
scarcely  girls  enough  to  go  round.  Girls  may 
have  lovers,  but  they  must  not  be  partial  in 
the  bestowal  of  their  affections  on  these  lovers ; 
girls  are  community  property  and  they  belong 
to  all  so  long  as  they  are  in  the  Moran  kraals. 
This  promiscuity,  of  course,  raises  havoc  with 
their  maternal  proclivities  and  chance  for 
childbirth.  The  birth  rate  in  these  kraals,  I 
have  been  told,  is  practically  at  the  zero  point, 
and  that  just  at  the  time  when  the  girls  should 
reproduce  prolifically  because  of  their  excel- 
lent physiques.  If  this  question  were  looked 
after  with  a  little  scientific  organization,  and 
if  the  girls  were  married  off  without  interfer- 
ence from  other  men,  the  women  would  doubt- 
less become  mothers  of  as  fine  a  race  of  men  as 
the  African  jungle  can  boast.  Both  men  and 
women  are  of  fine  physique  and  mentally  well 
developed.  But,  as  it  is,  the  chances  of  regen- 
erating the  race  are  nil.  What  a  fine  chance 
there  would  be  for  missionaries  to  do  a  work 


142     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

which  would  immortalize  their  names  not  only 
among  the  Masai  but  in  the  world  at  large ! 

The  third  reason  for  the  decrease  in  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  species  is  the  fact  that  syphilis 
is  rampant  among  the  Masai.  I  had  heard 
from  government  officials  that  the  spread  of 
that  disease  was  alarming,  but  when  I  came 
among  them  it  took  only  the  opening  of  one 
eye  to  find  out  that  it  was  almost  universal, 
especially  among  the  children.  No  sooner  had 
we  arrived  in  the  village  than  a  number  of 
people,  especially  women,  came  to  us  to  be 
treated  for  their  eyes.  Among  the  children 
there  was  not  one  who  had  healthy  optics. 

On  the  first  day  of  my  arrival  I  distributed  a 
quart  of  solution  of  boric  acid,  and  I  continued 
this  treatment  until  the  end  of  our  stay,  when  I 
left  them  a  copious  quantity  of  the  same  medi- 
cine. There  was  also  an  alarming  prevalence 
of  rashes  and  sores  on  the  head,  which  told  their 
own  tale.  Ulcers  and  sores  on  the  legs  and 
arms  were  also  plentiful,  but  they  may  have 
been  the  result  of  the  pernicious  habit  of  wear- 
ing those  terrible  arm  bands  and  leglets,  which 
leave  scars  beyond  description.  I  cannot  say 
that  there  were  extreme  cases  such  as  I  have 
seen  elsewhere,  but  the  disease,  so  far  as  I 


THE  MASAI  143 

could  judge,  was  universal.  I  understand  also 
that  miscarriages  are  the  order  of  the  day,  and 
this  is  ascribed  principally  to  the  spread  of 
this  foul  disease.  Whatever  may  be  the  causes 
of  the  phenomenon,  here  is  an  opportunity 
such  as  is  not  often  found  for  the  altruist  and 
the  philanthropist  to  raise  himself  a  monument 
of  lasting  glory  and  utility.  To  rehabilitate 
that  wonderful  tribe  of  the  Masai  by  a  thor- 
ough education  of  these  people  would  mean 
more  than  a  brilliant  star  in  the  diadem  of  a 
king  or  queen. 

I  am  told  on  good  authority  that  there  are 
at  present  only  twenty  thousand  Masai  left 
in  the  country,  and  this  figure  is  based  on  the 
returns  of  the  tax  list  of  the  British  East  Afri- 
can government  officials,  so  that  there  is  little 
room  left  for  doubt.  At  the  present  birth  rate 
it  is  for  this  present  generation  to  buckle  up 
or  go  under,  never  to  be  heard  of  again  in  the 
annals  of  African  history  of  the  future.  Chris- 
tianity seems  to  me  the  only  remedy.  The  in- 
stallation of  good  morals  and  hygienic  princi- 
ples would  be  the  only  salvation  for  the  race. 
There  is  a  good  foundation  on  which  to  build 
a  Christian  structure,  because  the  people  are 
at  heart  honest,  and  their  savage  desire  to  kill 


144     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

has  already  been  curbed  by  the  British  govern- 
ment. Their  moral  tendencies  as  far  as  sexual 
relations  are  concerned  would  be  just  as  well 
served  through  monogamy  as  it  is  at  present 
through  this  absurd  promiscuity. 

The  tradition  by  which  this  free  love  system 
entered  into  the  tribe  hundreds  of  years  ago 
is  so  infantile  that  it  would  take  a  convincing 
talker  only  a  short  time  to  show  them  the  error 
of  their  ways.  That  legend  is  the  old  story  of 
all  African  races  that  their  original  forefather 
had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  They  were  at 
war  and  the  son  had  to  take  the  cattle  to  a  salt 
lick.  One  of  his  sisters  went  with  him,  and  on 
various  occasions  he  found  tracks  of  strangers 
leading  up  to  the  kraal  which  he  had  built. 
The  next  day  he  took  out  his  cattle  and  im- 
mediately returned  to  hide  himself  near  the 
kraal.  Then  he  crept  up  to  the  hut,  where  he 
overheard  his  sister  making  love  to  an  enemy, 
and  he  killed  the  man  and  went  back  to  the  old 
home  to  tell  his  father.  Here  it  was  decided 
that  it  was  better  to  have  the  system  of  free 
love  to  preserve  peace  in  the  family.  It  was 
considered,  after  this  experience,  that  it  was 
safer  to  allow  the  girls  to  live  with  the  warriors 
in  their  kraals  where  they  could  make  love, 
sing  and  dance  and  be  at  the  same  time  re- 


THE  MASAI  145 

moved  from  the  temptation  of  betraying  the 
stock  of  their  parents. 

Formerly  when  there  were  raids  and  wars, 
and  the  warriors  were  at  all  times  on  the  war- 
path or  raiding  expeditions,  there  was  little 
time  for  excesses  of  sexual  indulgence,  but  now 
that  wars  and  raids  have  stopped  they  find 
their  pastime  more  in  these  excesses  than  in 
warlike  occupations.  Hence  the  dreadful 
menace  of  being  wiped  out  forever  which  now 
hangs  over  the  tribe. 

That  there  are  great  difficulties  to  overcome 
I  will  admit,  but  they  arep  surmountable.  So 
far  no  missionary  society  has  entered  on  the 
field  because  the  Masai  are  a  nomadic  tribe  and 
it  would  be  necessary  to  follow  them  from 
place  to  place,  which  was  formerly  impossible 
owing  to  lack  of  roads  or  traveling  facilities. 
But  now  Africa  is  "Darkest  Africa"  no  longer, 
but  "Africa  lit  up."  There  are  passable  roads 
everywhere,  and  a  missionary  equipped  with 
an  automobile  would  find  himself  capable  of 
traveling  from  kraal  to  kraal  and  installing 
the  principles  of  common  sense  and  right  liv- 
ing, and  would  be  welcomed  by  both  the  elders 
and  the  warriors.  We  were  the  most  welcome 
strangers  among  them,  and  no  sooner  had  we 
arrived  than  a  bullock  was  killed  for  the 


146    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

strangers  and  the  freedom  of  the  kraal  was 
given  to  us.  They  were  courteous  and  kind, 
and  when  we  left  they  were  sincerely  sorry. 

I  had  a  splendid  example  of  Masai  hunt- 
ing on  one  of  my  many  excursions  from  Nai- 
robi to  Anguruya's  kraal.  I  was  riding  across 
country  in  a  "Hup."  The  car  was  headed  for 
a  large  herd  of  Kongoni  and  Grants  and  a  few 
Zebras. 

The  Masai  guide  clicked  his  tongue  and  in 
a  low  voice  said,  "Hiko!"  ("There!")  I 
looked,  as  did  the  chauffeur.  I  saw  a  Kon- 
goni, undecided  whether  to  go  or  stay.  Pres- 
ently the  chauffeur  (a  Eurasian)  stopped  the 
car  and  got  out.  He  walked  slowly  and  cau- 
tiously toward  the  Kongoni.  The  latter  now 
escaped,  but  still  the  chauffeur  went  on  on 
tiptoe.  He  was  about  to  make  a  dash  when 
I  saw  a  baby  Kongoni  get  up  and  follow  its 
mother.  The  boy  followed,  but  the  fawn  left 
him  far  in  the  rear.  The  boy  returned  to  the 
car  and  started  her  going  on  the  wildest  run 
I  ever  made  in  a  motor  car.  He  followed  the 
baby  Kongoni,  which  began  to  run  wild  in 
large  circles.  The  Masai  guide  was  alert, 
watching  the  proceeding.  I  tried  to  stop  the 
mad  rush,  expecting  every  minute  that  the  car 
would  be  smashed  on  the  big  rocks  in  its  path. 


THE  MASAI  147 

But  the  boy  had  his  Indian  blood  aroused  and 
took  chances  which  no  one  but  the  reckless  son 
of  an  owner  would  take. 

The  baby  Kongoni  began  to  tire  and  emitted 
a  series  of  short  clicks  from  its  choking  lungs, 
sounding  very  much  like  the  "hoo"  of  a  night 
owl.  It  began  to  turn  somersaults,  but  still 
kept  on.  Now  the  Masai  guide  opened  the 
door,  ready  to  jump  and  run  after  the  little 
fugitive.  The  man  jumped  and  rolled  over 
twice,  brought  up  against  a  rock,  got  up  and 
ran  after  the  little  deer.  Run!  He  would 
have  taken  the  Marathon  at  any  meeting,  and 
coming  within  reach,  he  never  made  an  at- 
tempt until  the  little  fawn  was  well  within  his 
grasp,  and  then  made  one  dash  for  the  right 
hind  leg  and  they  rolled  over — both  baby  Kon- 
£oni  and  its  captor. 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT 

WHEN  I  used  to  give  lectures  in  the  U.  S,  A. 
on  African  impressions  I  always  mentioned 
the  Masai  as  the  bravest  of  all  British  East 
African  tribes.  For  illustration,  I  used  to  ex- 
plain how  the  Masai  consider  it  the  greatest 
sport  to  surround  a  lion  and  to  kill  it  with  their 
spears.  Consequently,  when  I  made  up  my 
program  of  pictures  for  the  expedition,  I  made 
this  one  essential  point  to  bring  out,  if  at  all 
possible.  Now  I  am  glad  to  state  that  I  have 
vindicated  my  honor  as  a  truthful  man  and 
to  have  actually  portrayed  in  a  lasting  record 
that  famous  lion  hunt  with  spears.  I  shall 
here  describe  this  mcrt  exciting  of  all  my  ex- 
periences. But  I  an  :re  that  my  description 
will  fall  short  of  the  thrilling  chase  as  it  oc- 
curred. 

In  order  to  make  sure  of  the  picture,  I  se- 
cured a  lion  in  captivity  who  had  all  the  quali- 
fications of  the  jungle  king.  He  was  full 
grown,  with  a  temper  of  his  own,  especially 

148 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      149 

where  native  Africans  were  concerned.  When, 
therefore,  I  came  to  the  Masai  country  I  imme- 
diately started  out  to  find  out  what  the  natives 
would  do  to  the  lion  if  I  should  bring  him  over 
there.  I  met  with  the  greatest  encouragement 
when  I  mentioned  my  plans.  There  were  no 
warriors  or  Morans  in  the  village  where  I  had 
pitched  my  camp,  but  they  were  immediately 
sent  for  from  the  Moran  village,  which  was 
over  forty  miles  away.  They  had  arrived  be- 
fore I  had  returned  from  Nairobi  with  the 
lion.  As  soon  as  they  made  one  another's  ac- 
quaintance I  saw  that  we  were  in  for  a  most 
interesting  time.  The  lion  in  its  cage  growled 
furiously  at  the  Morans,  and  they,  in  turn, 
were  so  wrought  up  over  this  beast,  which  they 
instinctively  hated,  that  we  had  a  hard  time 
keeping  one  Moran  from  spearing  the  animal 
in  its  cage.  This  gentleman  got  so  hysterical 
that  they  had  to  take  his  spear  from  him  and 
guard  him  till  the  moment  of  the  hunt  had 
arrived. 

We  took  great  pains  in  arranging  the  arena 
for  the  coming  event.  There  was  a  grand  spot 
which  had  been  picked  out  in  my  absence.  The 
scene  was  a  flat  stretch  of  dry  swamp  sur- 
rounded by  an  edge  of  rushes  and  tules  with  a 
jungle  background.  The  cage  was  placed  be- 


150    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

tween  the  rushes,  facing  the  flat  arena.  When 
all  was  ready  for  the  operation  the  Masai  war- 
riors ranged  themselves  around  two  sides  of 
the  circle,  which  was  to  seal  the  lion's  fate. 
It  was  a  veritable  Coliseum — only  it  was  re- 
versed in  its  use.  Here  the  lion  was  to  be  the 
victim  and  men  his  executioners.  No  gun  was 
allowed  on  the  premises.  Two  American 
ladies  in  the  party  and  some  other  spectators 
had  taken  refuge  in  nearby  trees.  The  two 
photographers  with  their  machines  had  taken 
up  their  post  on  a  wagon  thirty  feet  from  the 
center  of  the  arena  and  I  joined  them  with 
my  kodak.  The  keeper  of  the  lion  was  to 
lift  the  door  at  a  signal  given  when  every- 
thing was  in  readiness  for  the  critical  mo- 
ment. 

The  Morans  were  alert,  with  every  muscle 
and  nerve  of  their  splendid  bodies  taut.  The 
trapdoor  rose  slowly  and  creaking.  The  eyes 
of  the  warriors  were  glued  to  the  figure  of  the 
lion,  watching  his  every  movement,  their 
spears  and  shields  ready  for  the  attack.  The 
lion  appeared  unconcerned.  He  lay  down  in 
his  cage.  I  had  given  orders  that  under  no 
circumstances  must  he  be  molested  without 
giving  him  a  chance  to  defend  himself.  We 


LION  HUNT  OF  THE  MASAI 

Warriors  arrive  at  elders  village,  greet  Chief 

Dance  of  victory  around  the  lion's  carcass 

Queens  welcoming  lion  hunters 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      151 

did  not  wait  long  before  prodding  him  from 
the  other  side,  but  he  refused  to  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  the  moment. 

Presently  I  gave  orders  to  smoke  him  out, 
and  a  fire  was  lit  at  the  other  side  of  the  cage. 
The  smoke  turned  away  from  him,  and  I  gave 
new  orders  to  light  one  at  the  front.  My  or- 
ders were  not  understood,  and  I  had  to  move 
over  to  the  cage  to  have  it  done.  No  sooner 
was  a  bunch  of  flaming  grass  put  under  his 
nose  than  he  jumped  out  of  the  cage,  and  com- 
ing out  in  the  open,  he  turned  around  to 
measure  his  chances  of  escape.  There  were  no 
Morans  in  sight  at  either  side  of  the  cage,  so 
he  turned  to  the  right  and  broke  cover,  leap- 
ing up  in  a  bound,  and  he  was  off  for  the  chase. 
We  had  not  reckoned  on  this  eventuality,  but 
the  Morans  had.  They  went  after  him  and 
soon  overtook  him.  He  was,  however,  out  of 
sight  of  the  camera,  and  quicker  than  it  takes 
to  relate,  all  of  us  were  after  him  with  cameras 
and  all  paraphernalia  necessary.  The  Morans 
nearest  to  the  beast  were  ready  to  seal  his  fate 
there  and  then  because  he  was  running  toward 
the  village.  But  fortunately  for  us,  Mr.  Klein 
from  New  Jersey,  who  knew  the  game  thor- 
oughly and  who  spoke  the  language  very  well, 


152    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

warned  the  natives  not  to  use  their  spears  until 
the  camera  had  come  up. 

They  brought  him  to  bay  in  a  copse  sur- 
rounding him  from  two  sides.     We  had  the 
camera  trained  on  him  again  in  short  order, 
and  now  I  gave  the  Morans  the  signal  to  at- 
tack.   The  lion,  however,  had  anticipated  my 
signal  by  a  fraction  of  a  second  and  charged 
with  a  loud  roar  at  the  first  click  of  the  camera. 
He  crouched  on  his  belly  and  leapt  up  in  the 
air,  all  his  savage  nature  intent  on  going  after 
the  steel  monster  shining  in  the  brilliant  sun. 
He  advanced  from  one  side,  the  Morans  from 
the  other.     It  was  a  question  who  was  going 
to  be  the  first  to  attack.     But  the  Masai  are 
too  old  at  the  game  to  give  the  lion  a  chance. 
At  a  distance  of  twenty  feet  the  first  spear 
was  thrown ;  it  missed.    The  second,  following 
closely,  hit  the  poor  animal  squarely  on  the 
forehead,  piercing  through  the  brain  and  cut- 
ting its  way  clear  through  till  it  reached  the  left 
shoulder  blade.    Five  more  spears  were  thrown 
in  rapid  succession,  and  all  landed,  most  of 
them  in  vital  spots.     The  beast  charged  di- 
rectly toward  the  camera,  and  when  he  was 
struck  by  the  second  spear,  which  killed  him 
almost  instantly,  he  looked  dazed,  and  as  it 
happened,  he  looked  me  straight  in  the  eye  as 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      153 

if  asking,  "What  did  I  do  to  you  to  deserve 
this  fate?" 

The  event  was  so  short  of  duration  that  it 
seemed  as  if  it  had  not  been  worth  all  the 
trouble  and  expense.  But  to  see  the  Masai 
in  action  was  a  thing  that  only  few  white  men 
have  had  the  privilege  of  seeing,  and  a  good 
many  of  them  never  lived  to  tell  the  tale  be- 
cause their  spears  are  as  effective  as  rifles  in 
the  hands  of  the  ordinary  "askari." 

On  this  occasion  the  Morans  were  wonder- 
ful. They  are  not  a  muscular  race — if  any- 
thing, they  look  soft — but  they  are  lithe  and 
wiry,  of  great  endurance  and  indomitable 
courage,  which,  combined  with  a  true  sportlike 
instinct,  makes  them  what  they  call  themselves 
— an  independent,  unconquered  race.  They 
look  you  straight  in  the  eye ;  they  do  not  cringe 
like  other  natives.  They  look  stoical.  They 
march  up  silently,  always  with  spear  in  hand. 
"When  they  arrive  at  a  village  of  elders  they 
shake  the  hand  of  the  chief,  their  father,  and 
pass  on  to  the  middle  of  the  village,  where  they 
await  the  greeting  of  the  women  of  the  chief's 
harem.  This  done,  they  disperse  as  if  they 
were  dismissed  from  drill,  and  each  seeks 
the  hut  in  which  he  is  to  be  lodged  during  his 
stay  in  the  village.  In  action  they  are  quick 


154    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

and  sure  of  their  movements.  Fearless,  with 
determination  in  their  eyes,  they  go  to  the  at- 
tack with  one  aim  only — to  get  the  other  fellow 
first.  And  they  usually  do.  That  made  them 
what  they  are  at  present,  a  tribe  of  uncon- 
quered  heroes,  conscious  of  the  admiration 
which  every  white  man  in  Africa  has  for  them. 
Before  they  depart  on  a  military  or  serious 
hunting  errand  the  Aigwanian,  or  leader  of 
their  circumcision  class,  addresses  them  and 
lays  down  the  policy  to  follow.  He  gives  them 
strategic  instructions  and  orders  which  no 
Moran  may  dare  disobey.  They  listen  without 
a  murmur.  There  is  a  tone  of  decision  mixed 
with  a  complete  abandonment  to  fate  in  their 
bearing  when  they  walk  toward  the  scene  of 
the  coming  battle.  Once  there,  they  arrange 
themselves  without  a  word  and  await  develop- 
ments. But  when  the  critical  moment  has  ar- 
rived they  are  ready,  and  it  is  surprising  how 
much  strength  is  hidden  behind  their  seeming 
physical  weakness.  The  spears  which  were 
thrown  at  the  lion  had  so  much  steam  behind 
them  that  they  pierced  his  body  clear  through, 
and  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  they  could  be  extracted.  Two  of  the 
spears  were  bent  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees 
when  they  had  been  drawn  out  of  the  carcass 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      155 

with  almost  superhuman  efforts.  Another 
spear  was  broken  at  the  hilt  and  had  to  be  cut 
out  from  where  it  had  lodged. 

What  makes  the  Morans  especially  proud 
of  their  achievement  on  the  hunting  ground 
and  on  the  battlefield  is  the  fact  that  after 
they  have  speared  an  enemy  or  a  lion  they  are 
entitled  to  marry.  No  Masai  girl  would  look 
at  one  until  such  an  event  has  crowned  his 
military  and  hunting  prowess.  Such  a  vic- 
tory naturally  makes  the  men  supremely 
happy,  and  they  are  willing  to  lay  down  their 
lives  for  the  attempt  and  a  bid  for  the  fair 
woman's  favor.  The  height  of  their  excite- 
ment before  the  battle  is  only  evidenced  by 
their  frantic  expressions  of  joy  after  the  finish. 
They  walk  around  the  carcass,  brandishing 
their  spears  and  holding  their  shields  high  up 
in  the  air  over  their  heads,  and  they  dance 
and  jump  and  act  like  so  many  maniacs  let 
loose.  Only  when  they  are  called  to  order  by 
their  Waignanian,  or  headman,  do  they  fall  in 
line  and  now  they  perform  a  march  of  victory 
in  an  ensemble,  the  shields  still  over  their  heads 
and  the  spears  straight  up  like  a  huge  steel 
bristle,  like  an  ominous  warning  which  must 
have  looked  a  fearful  augury  for  a  routed  en- 
emy in  bygone  days. 


156    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

It  took  very  little  imagination  to  visualize 
on  that  occasion  former  feats  of  arms  of  these 
Morans,  who  know  no  bounds  to  their  con- 
quests. Formerly  in  battle  with  their  enemies, 
even  if  they  were  outnumbered  they  would  at- 
tack again  after  a  defeat  until  the  last  man  had 
dropped. 

That  they  do  not  take  any  chances  was 
shown  by  the  way  they  rendered  the  animal 
incapable  of  further  harm  by  severing  the 
spine  with  a  slash  of  the  knife.  They  made  a 
terrible  gash,  cutting  the  spine  in  two.  All  this 
was  done  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  The 
whole  scene  did  not  take  more  than  a  minute. 
In  this  case  they  were  fortunate  that  none 
of  their  number  had  been  mauled.  Some- 
times it  happens  that  the  lion  is  quicker  than 
they  are,  and  one  of  them  is  sat  upon  by  the 
lion  before  he  can  get  away  after  throwing 
his  spear.  In  such  a  case  one  of  the  Morans 
gets  behind  the  animal  and  catches  him  by 
the  tail  to  divert  his  attention  from  the  man 
who  is  down.  They  twist  the  tail  and  the  other 
warriors  assist  the  first  tail-catcher  to  lift  the 
brute  by  the  hindlegs  off  the  victim.  The 
others  then  take  a  thrust  at  the  beast  with  their 
spears,  or,  if  he  be  too  dangerous,  with  a  knife 


THE  MASAI  LION  HUNT      157 

or  dagger,  thus  preventing  accidents  to  the 
surrounding  group  of  fighters. 

We  all  feel  very  proud  and  very  happy  over 
the  successful  taking  of  the  picture.  This  may 
be  better  understood  when  it  is  known  that 
the  attempt  to  get  this  picture  has  been  made 
many  a  time  by  different  photographers,  who 
never  got  a  foot  of  film  out  of  their  efforts. 
Mr.  Klein  of  New  York,  for  instance,  who  wit- 
nessed our  hunt,  told  me  that  he  had  made  nine 
attempts  and  every  one  was  unsuccessful.  He 
tried  it  on  three  tame  lions  and  on  six  wild 
kings  of  the  jungle,  but  through  some  acci- 
dent or  other  unforeseen  event  not  one  picture 
was  taken. 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO 

AFTER  we  had  left  the  Masai  and  returned 
north  to  Nairobi  I  was  anxious  to  proceed  to 
the  Kavirondo  country,  which  lies  about  300 
miles  west  of  Nairobi,  the  capital  city  of  Brit- 
ish East  Africa.  This  desire  was  prompted 
by  various  motives.  First  of  all,  it  was  the 
country  where  I  had  suffered  most  during  my 
missionary  career,  when  I  was  suffering  from 
acute  malaria,  half  chronic,  half  intermittent, 
until  finally  I  had  to  leave  Africa  for  good  in 
July,  1905.  I  had  always  wondered  if  the 
game  had  been  worth  the  candle,  and  both  from 
correspondence  and  reports  in  the  annals  of  the 
foreign  missions  I  had  learned  that  the  work 
was  bearing  great  and  wonderful  results. 

Secondly,  when  I  first  arrived  on  this  expe- 
dition at  the  Port  of  Mombasa  I  had  visited 
the  Catholic  Mission  on  Sunday  morning, 
and  to  my  great  surprise  I  found  a  very  large 
congregation  gathered  around  the  church  on 
the  mission  grounds.  This  was  all  the  more 

158 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         159 

surprising  because  when  I  had  left  Mombasa 
in  1905  there  was  an  exceedingly  small  num- 
ber of  Catholic  negroes  in  that  mission.  Nor 
did  the  clergy  of  this  church  have  great  hopes 
of  making  headway  among  the  Swahilis,  or 
Coast  natives,  who  were  mostly  Mohamme- 
dans. Imagine,  therefore,  my  surprise  when  I 
found  some  600  well-dressed  natives  in  and 
outside  that  church.  I  called,  therefore,  on 
Father  Lutz,  the  pastor,  not  only  to  pay  my 
respects,  but  to  congratulate  him  on  his  won- 
derful success  in  so  difficult  a  territory.  When 
I  mentioned  the  miraculous  transformation  of 
the  Swahilis  the  genial  old  gentleman  smiled 
and  corrected  me  with  a  reflective  "Tut  tut; 
they  are  not  Swahilis;  they  are  Kavirondos." 

It  was  my  turn  to  be  surprised  beyond 
words,  and  I  remonstrated,  "Not  these  people ; 
they  are  too  well  dressed  and  too  clean  to  be 
Wakavirondo.  Besides,  they  do  not  show  the 
fallen-in  underlips  as  a  result  of  the  missing 
lower  incisors." 

"I  see  you  are  acquainted  with  the  Wakavi- 
rondo," replied  the  good  old  missionary. 

"I  ought  to  be,  considering  that  I  was  the 
first  missionary  among  them  in  1904,"  I  an- 
swered. 

"Then  go  back  among  them  and  look  them 


160    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

over,"  he  said;  "although  a  great  number  have 
all  their  teeth  intact." 

I  returned  without  delay  to  examine  them, 
and  collecting  the  few  words  which  I  remem- 
bered of  my  vocabulary  of  2,000  words  which 
I  had  composed  in  1904-5,  I  sprung  a  surprise 
among  a  few  groups.  They  returned  my  salu- 
tations in  kind  and  opened  their  eyes  wide  with 
wonder  how  I  knew  their  greetings  whilst  they 
did  not  remember  my  face.  Presently  one  fine 
stalwart  of  about  30  years  of  age  jumped  out 
of  a  nearby  group,  and  taking  my  hand  and 
shaking  it  wildly  and  excitedly,  asked,  "Aren't 
you  Pere  Bellagi?" 

"That  used  to  be  my  name  in  Uganda,"  I 
replied.  "And  aren't  you  Ojole's  son?" 

"Indeed  I  am,"  he  said  in  Kiswahili,  notic- 
ing that  I  had  retained  little  of  the  Luo  lan- 
guage. Whilst  he  grinned,  I  noticed  that  his 
six  lower  incisors  were  missing.  (This  is  a 
tribal  mark  of  the  Wakavirondo.  Boys  and 
girls  have  them  extracted  at  the  age  of  10-12, 
with  a  coarse,  small  iron  spike  by  the  medicine 
man.  The  father  of  the  boy  keeps  both  arms 
pinioned,  and  whilst  a  stick  is  placed  between 
the  two  jaws  of  the  boy,  in  order  to  hold  his 
mouth  open,  the  "dentist"  jars  out  the  teeth 
with  a  forcible  jerk,  the  one  after  the  other, 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         161 

the  boy  screaming  holy  murder  and  bleeding 
profusely. ) 

"How  is  it  that  you  all  are  so  well  dressed 
when  last  I  saw  you  you  even  refused  to  fre- 
quent the  mission  because  I  insisted  on  your 
wearing  clothes?" 

"Oh,  all  that  is  changed  in  Kisumu,  although 
in  the  country  the  Shenzi  (pagans)  still  go 
naked,"  he  laughed.  "There  are  very  many 
Catholic  people  there  now,"  which  I  found 
later  was  correct,  because  there  are  well  over 
30,000  of  these  savages  converted  and  active 
members  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

All  of  this  made  me  impatient  to  see  with 
"mine  own  eyes"  the  reported  metamorphosis 
of  this  scene  of  my  earlier  efforts  again.  Con- 
sequently the  three  hundred  mile  ride  on  the 
Uganda  Railroad  was  all  too  slow  for  me,  and 
I  shook  myself  out  of  my  dusty  couch  early 
in  the  morning,  when  at  7  A.  M.  we  steamed 
into  the  Kisumu  railroad  yard  to  get  a  first 
glimpse  of  the  old  town  broiling  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Nandi  Hills  and  shimmering  in  the  re- 
flecting rays  of  a  burning  sun  cast  back  by 
the  placid  expanse  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Kavirondo  peo- 
ple have  always  been  a  great  favorite  with  me 
for  the  reason  that  I  started  the  first  mission 


162     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

among  them  in  1904.  And  what  savages  they 
were  then !  Well  do  I  remember  how  I  strug- 
gled to  get  them  to  wear  clothes.  The  ter- 
minal station  at  Kisumu  (then  called  Port 
Florence)  had  been  established  in  1902,  and 
even  then,  two  years  later,  the  men  and  women 
used  to  crowd  the  platform  stark  naked. 
White  people  were  beginning  to  pour  into 
Uganda  and  the  embarrassing  situation  which 
arose  when  ladies  or  Sisters  arrived  was  acute. 

I  well  remember  how  I  used  to  clothe  a 
dozen  to  fifteen  young  women  every  Sunday 
in  the  attempt  to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone, 
showing  them  the  necessity  of  clothing  and  the 
difference  of  the  Sunday  and  week  days.  My 
boy  finally  stopped  me  by  showing  me  that  the 
girls  went  straight  from  my  camp  into  the 
market,  where  they  disposed  of  my  cloth  for 
a  bit  of  meat  or  fish  to  the  Swahili  traders, 
who  were  the  only  beneficiaries  of  my  bounty. 

Then  I  tried  the  government,  which  was  well 
disposed  to  me.  I  asked  them  to  let  me  clothe 
2,000  people  and  thereafter  make  a  law  that 
no  "Omera"  should  enter  the  city  limits  naked. 
I  was  referred  to  Sir  Charles  Elliott,  who  was 
then  the  Commissioner  of  the  British  East 
African  Protectorate.  I  awaited  his  arrival 
and  laid  the  project  before  him.  He  scorned 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          163 

the  idea,  and  after  a  long  argument  he  asked 
me,  as  a  clinching  climax,  "Did  not  Adam  and 
Eve  go  about  the  same  way  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden?"  And  I  replied  that  I  had  always  been 
under  the  impression  that  the  British  govern- 
ment brought  civilization  wherever  they 
planted  the  Union  Jack,  but  if  he  had  been 
sent  there  to  introduce  the  more  primitive  cus- 
toms of  the  Adam  and  Eve  period  I  had  no 
more  to  say,  and  began  to  work  in  my  own 
quiet  way.  I  was  there  eighteen  months,  the 
last  eight  of  which  I  was  so  ill  that  finally  I 
had  to  evacuate  and  go  home,  but  the  work 
went  on  and  imagine  my  surprise. 

What  struck  me  as  almost  remarkable  in 
my  researches  among  the  Wakavirondo  was 
the  almost  miraculous  transformation  which 
had  converted  the  natives  from  the  irresponsi- 
ble, irresponsive,  savage  and  almost  animal 
horde  which  occupied  the  eastern  quarter  of 
the  Victoria  Nyanza  into  a  useful  and  indus- 
trious people.  In  1904,  when  I  first  came  upon 
them,  they  were  a  nude  and  filthy  population. 
They  were  primitive  to  the  point  of  eating 
their  food  raw.  They  had  no  occupation  save 
that  of  fishing  and  bartering  grains — which 
they  did  not  grow  themselves — for  cattle. 

The  natives  wore  no  clothes,  greased  their 


164     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

bodies  with  a  mixture  of  cow-dung,  ashes  and 
butter  in  order  to  prevent  their  skins  from 
cracking  in  the  merciless  rays  of  the  sun.  And 
yet  the  women  were  not  free  from  the  feminine 
characteristics  of  their  betters  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
and  Europe;  that  is,  vanity  and  a  great  pas- 
sion for  fanciful  designs.  Only  in  Kavirondo, 
having  no  clothes,  silk,  velvet  or  even  calico  to 
embroider  them  on  they  have  them  cicatrized 
or  cut  into  their  skins.  On  the  reverse  page 
you  will  find  a  good  example  of  such  a  scari- 
fication. The  poor  vain  creature  had  this 
artistic  pattern  cut  into  the  stomach  with  a 
crude  knife.  The  upper  incisions  carved  a 
gash  of  a  quarter  inch  deep  in  her  flesh,  whilst 
the  walls  of  the  incision  were  turned  over  with 
a  buttonhook  in  order  to  raise  the  base  of  the 
wound  to  form  a  "haut  relief"  ridge  as  a  head 
ornament  of  the  living  escutcheon  gradually 
tapering  down  till  it  faded  away  on  the  nether 
abdomen.  Such  mutilations  are  very  common 
among  the  women,  whilst  the  men  usually  con- 
tent themselves  with  slight  notches  on  the  face 
or  the  breast  and  shoulders. 

They  always  were  a  strong  and  well  built 
race.  They  were  strangers  to  disease  and 
venereal  ravages  because,  for  all  their  filth, 
immorality  was  not  one  of  their  shortcomings. 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          165 

They  were  moral  to  a  degree  unheard  of 
among  the  surrounding  tribes,  most  of  which 
were  dying  out  as  a  result  of  their  promiscuity 
and  sexual  excesses.  The  Wakavirondo  then, 
as  now,  were  moral,  however  we  may  regard 
the  motives  for  their  code.  Whether  we  as- 
cribe the  purity  of  their  young  women  to  a 
commercial  spirit — for  they  are  considered  less 
valuable  as  matrimonial  commodities  when 
they  have  lost  their  virginity — or  whether  we 
credit  them  with  a  refined  fundamental  moral- 
ity, the  fact  remains  that  they  have  preserved 
physical  conditions  which  have  assisted  them 
in  raising  large  families  of  sturdy  children. 

Physically  above  the  average  of  Africans 
on  the  Equator  line,  the  Wakavirondo  are  tall, 
muscular,  wiry  and  capable  of  unusual  feats  of 
endurance. 

This  quality  was  well  demonstrated  during 
the  war,  when,  according  to  all  critics,  they 
were  by  far  the  best  porters  and  did  more  to 
conquer  German  East  Africa  than  any  other 
three  tribes  combined.  At  present  one  may 
see  them  scattered  along  the  line  from  Mom- 
basa to  their  home  in  Kavirondo,  doing  good 
work  as  askaries,  road  builders,  mechanics  and 
artisans  of  every  description.  They  are  in 
great  demand  on  farms  and  in  industrial  insti- 


166     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

tutions,  for  with  their  docility  and  desire  for 
learning  they  are  apt  pupils  in  every  branch 
of  endeavor.  Having  learned  to  clothe  them- 
selves, they  have  abandoned  their  unsanitary 
habits  and  they  even  wash  and  bathe  wherever 
they  come  in  contact  with  Europeans.  They 
stand  aloof  from  the  other  tribes  and  conse- 
quently do  not  adopt  the  evil  ways  of  their 
neighbors.  They  are  honest,  and  for  that  rea- 
son they  are  more  popular  as  servants  than  any 
of  their  competitors  from  other  tribes.  They 
are  willing,  courteous,  and  always  cheerful,  if 
somewhat  reticent ;  they  lack  the  grasping  de- 
sire for  "baccees"  which  makes  the  other  natives 
so  objectionable.  They  are  willing  "to  pay 
their  own  way,"  even  where  missionary  work  is 
concerned,  to  buy  what  they  wish  and  even  to 
contribute  their  mite  to  institutions  from  which 
they  derive  educational  benefits  or  other  cul- 
tural advantages. 

They  are  independent  by  nature,  but  not 
aggressive  or  warlike.  Still,  they  could  not  be 
called  cowards,  and  they  are  able  to  give  a  good 
account  of  themselves  when  attacked,  without 
going  out  of  their  way  to  make  life  unpleasant 
for  their  neighbors.  Their  amiability  is  so  well 
known  that  they  are  called  the  "Bamera"  (our 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          167 

friends)  by  the  Kakamega,  and  other  neigh- 
boring tribes. 

The  Wakavirondo  are  not  what  one  might 
call  a  good-looking  tribe.  On  the  contrary, 
they  are  unattractive  in  appearance,  owing 
chiefly  to  their  ridiculous  habit  of  breaking 
out  the  incisors  of  the  lower  jaw.  The  loss  of 
six  lower  teeth  makes  the  under  lip  fall  in  and 
gives  the  natives  the  appearance  of  prema- 
turely aged  people.  The  reason  for  this  habit 
coincides  with  that  of  other  tribes  who  affect 
similar  dental  vagaries,  viz.,  the  wish  to  be  pre- 
pared against  starvation  when  attacked  by 
tetanus. 

The  Kavirondo  call  themselves  "Luo"  and 
resent  being  labeled  Kavirondo,  whatever  that 
name  may  mean.  It  is  supposed  by  some  that 
this  name  was  given  to  them  by  the  Arabs,  who 
began  trading  with  them  in  the  early  fifties. 
The  same  authorities  maintain  that  the  name 
was  derived  from  the  name  of  Ondo,  who  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  tribe.  However,  the  people 
themselves  have  no  well-defined  idea  of  their 
own  origin,  and  it  would  be  presumption  for 
any  anthropologist  to  set  down  a  hard  and 
fast  theory  of  his  own  and  to  float  it  for  what 
it  is  worth.  The  river  cannot  rise  above  its 


168     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

source,  nor  can  scientists  or  ethnologists  go 
beyond  the  information  obtainable  from  the 
natives,  who  are  after  all  their  own  historians 
and  more  interested  in  their  own  traditions 
than  any  of  us  can  be.  They  have  no  written 
legends  or  any  tangible  historical  knowledge 
of  their  own ;  therefore  I  assert  that  their  own 
stories,  interwoven  though  they  be  wfth  in- 
numerable fictions,  must  be  the  only  authority 
on  which  to  build  a  true  record  of  their  past. 

Their  history  seems  to  be  as  follows:  Cen- 
turies ago  they  lived  north  of  their  present  ter- 
ritory, some  claim  in  the  lower  Soudan.*  Com- 
ing down,  they  migrated  in  a  body  and  fought 

*  Since  I  wrote  this  article  in  Kavirondo  I  pushed  farther 
north  and  following  the  Nile  I  came  to  a  tribe  called  the 
Alur,  who  inhabit  the  northern  part  of  the  Albert  Nyanza. 
They  are  very  similar  in  physical  build  and  features  to  the 
Kavirondo  and  speak  a  language  almost  the  same  as  the  Luo 
language  of  the  Kavirondo  natives,  from  which  discovery  I 
would  rather  conclude  that  they  must  be  branches  of  the 
same  race.  And  since  I  was  informed  in  that  country  that 
the  Alur  descended  from  the  lower  Soudanese  territories,  it 
is  quite  likely  that  the  Kavirondo  peoples  originated  from 
there.  Although  I  never  traveled  through  the  Bakeddi  coun- 
try, I  learned  from  missionaries  who  resided  in  that  country 
for  years  that  some  of  the  local  tribes  in  that  district  are 
very  much  like  the  Alur  and  the  Kavirondo,  which  would 
suggest  the  idea  that  this  exodus  from  the  lower  Soudan  was 
split  up  on  various  occasions,  although  it  is  hard  to  believe 
that  the  Kavirondo  should  have  migrated  as  far  as  the 
western  point  of  the  Berkeley  Bay  or  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 
And  yet,  having  left  the  vicinity  of  large  stretches  of  water 
such  as  the  Nile  base,  the  Albert  Nyanza  and  the  Lake 
Kyoga,  they  could  be  expected  to  wander  southward  until 
they  found  another  large  sheet  of  water  such  as  the  northeast 
arm  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          169 

their  way  through  the  Bantu  tribes  which  they 
encountered.  Their  numerical  strength  over- 
came all  resistance,  and  the  Bantu  were  unable 
to  make  a  united  stand  against  them,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  they  themselves  were  always  en- 
gaged in  intertribal  conflicts.  The  conquering 
band  of  Nilotic  adventurers  finally  settled 
down  on  the  east  border  of  Lake  Victoria,  their 
present  home.  Why  they  should  have  selected 
their  barren  and  stony  location  is  difficult  to 
understand,  considering  that  they  passed 
through  such  fine  territory  as  that  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Nandi  and  the  Washa  Ngishu.  At 
any  rate,  they  congregated  about  Kavirondo, 
where  they  split  up  into  numerous  clans  and 
sectional  groups. 

On  second  thought,  I  would  say  that  maybe 
the  Nandi  and  Washa  Ngishu  plateaux  might 
have  been  too  cold  for  them,  being  of  so  much 
higher  elevation  and  the  fact  that  they 
swarmed  down  from  the  lower  Soudan.  Most 
likely  they  sought  an  elevation  milder  in  tem- 
perature to  that  which  they  had  abandoned. 

Having  settled  down  in  their  new  territory, 
they  began  to  breed  cattle,  in  which  occupation 
they  were  most  successful,  especially  in  the 
region  bordering  immediately  upon  the  lake.1 
Here  the  land,  rocky  and  unfit  for  agriculture, 


170    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

is  well  adapted  for  pasturing,  and  the  natives 
became  owners  of  immense  herds  of  cattle. 
The  land  higher  up  was  more  fertile  and  the 
natives  who  squatted  in  that  district  were  able 
to  grow  good  crops  of  various  grains,  which 
the  Luo  around  the  lake  bought  from  them 
with  their  cattle.    Consequently  the  Kavirondo 
are  not  exclusive  meat  eaters  like  some  other 
Nilotic  tribes,  as,  for  instance,  the  Masai  or 
ISTandi.    Rinderpest  and  other  diseases  of  cat- 
tle decimated  the  herds  time  and  again,  and  at 
the  present  time  their  holdings  are  small  com- 
pared to  what  they  once  were.    Now  they  keep 
only  enough  cattle  to  furnish  meat  and  milk 
and  to  use  as  barter  in  the  purchase  of  wives. 
The  Luo,  like  all  other  Nilotic  tribes,  of 
course,  indulge  in  polygamy  on  a  large  scale. 
A  man  may  have  ten,  twenty,  or  even  thirty 
wives,  according  to  his  means  and  tempera- 
ment.   The  manner  in  which  a  Kavirondo  ob- 
tains his  additional  wives  and  at  the  same  time 
builds  up  a  village  is  rather  peculiar.    A  man 
having  married  for  the  first  time  usually  lives 
in  his  father's  village  until  the  time  has  come 
when  he  is  able  to  set  up  an  establishment  of 
his  own.    When  he  has  acquired  enough  head 
of  cattle  to  treat  himself  to  a  few  additional 
spouses  he  begins  to  cut  down  and  collect  a 


WAKAVIRONDO  SAVAGERY 
Hut  with  part  of  inmates  outside 
Feminine  curiosity  watching  the  camera 
Minstrel  in  Wakavirondo 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         171 

certain  amount  of  wooden  poles  and  sticks  with 
which  to  build  the  huts  required  for  the  rest 
of  his  harem,  in  the  construction  of  which  he 
is  assisted  by  his  relatives.  A  suitable  place 
is  sought  as  near  as  possible  to  his  father's 
kraal,  and  the  first  hut  is  erected.  Gradually 
as  he  collects  wives  new  huts  arise  successively, 
according  to  an  established  diagram,  which 
may  be  represented  as  follows: 

975312468     10 

When  he  has  more  than  ten  wives  a  new  vil- 
lage is  erected  for  the  next  ten. 

Wife  A  represents  the  first  (l)  hut,  and 
always  remains  the  principal  wife,  her  hut 
forming  the  nucleus  of  the  village.  All  the 
cattle  are  attached  to  the  first  hut,  and  it  is 
with  these  cattle  that  the  husband  buys  his  new 
wives.  When  the  first  wife  has  brought  forth 
her  first-born  she  is  thought  to  need  an  assist- 
ant. Since  the  second  wife  is  bought  with  the 
cattle  attached  to  wife  A's  hut  and  the  cattle 
buy  the  wife,  wife  A,  in  the  Kavirondo  law, 
buys  the  second  wife  and  a  new  hut  is  built  for 
wife  B  at  the  right  of  wife  A's  hut.  How- 
ever, as  time  goes  on,  wife  A  requires  more 
assistants,  and  it  may  be  that  wife  B  is  in  the 
same  predicament.  Wife  A  therefore  buys 


172     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

still  another  wife  with  the  cattle  attached  to 
her  hut  and  wife  C  has  a  hut  built  on  the  left 
side  of  wife  A.  When  wife  B  needs  help  she 
"buys"  another  wife — D^-with  the  cattle  at- 
tached to  her  own  hut,  and  so  the  system  car- 
ries on  until  a  full  complement  of  ten  has  been 
obtained.  Wife  B  and  wife  C  are  known  as 
the  sisters  of  wife  A,  and  their  children  form 
one  large  family. 

Similarly,  wife  D,  paid  for  by  wife  B,  lives 
by  the  side  of  B  in  hut  4,  and  is  known  as  the 
daughter  of  B.  Near  evening  the  husband 
sends  his  chair,  which  is  a  sort  of  milk  stool, 
to  the  wife  whose  company  he  wishes  to  enjoy 
during  the  coming  night.  This  self -invitation 
is  sent  out  in  advance  so  that  the  chosen  wife 
may  prepare  for  her  lord's  entertainment. 

Around  the  village  is  raised  a  protective 
fence  made  of  Euphorbia  and  in  this  fence 
there  is  only  one  opening,  which  is  made 
directly  in  front  of  hut  number  1.  On  the 
inside  of  this  fence  the  brothers  of  the  hus- 
band may  build  their  huts  and  those  of  their 
wives,  provided  that  they  have  not  too  many. 

The  open  space  in  the  area  of  the  village  is 
reserved  for  a  cattle  pen.  The  goats,  sheep  and 
calves  are  sheltered  in  the  owner's  hut  unless 
they  be  too  numerous,  in  which  case  a  separate 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          173 

structure  is  made  for  them.  The  pen  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  fence  of  sticks  and  thorn  bushes, 
with  a  small  aperture.  This  entrance  is  closed 
at  about  6 :30  P.  M.  Should  the  owner  go  out 
in  the  evening  to  attend  a  sociable  drinking 
bout  the  entrance  is  left  open  just  a  trifle  for 
his  highness. 

About  6  A.  M.  the  village  gate  is  opened, 
and  half  an  hour  later  the  cattle  gate  is  let 
down.  In  the  meantime  the  smaller  animals 
have  been  released  from  their  huts  and  the 
calves  immediately  seek  their  mothers.  The 
calves  are  allowed  to  take  their  breakfast  be- 
fore the  boy  attempts  to  milk  the  cow.  A 
curious  thing  about  the  African  cow  is  that 
she  will  not  permit  herself  to  be  milked  until 
the  calf  has  started  the  milk  flow. 

The  milk  is  caught  in  an  earthenware  vessel, 
or  sometimes  in  a  scooped-out  chunk  of  wood. 
These  receptacles  are  cleansed  with  liquids  ob- 
tained from  the  cow;  but  an  account  of  the 
production  and  collection  of  the  fluid  involved 
might  be  too  realistic,  for  which  reason  I  for- 
bear a  more  detailed  description.  Women  are 
riot  permitted  to  milk  cows,  owing  to  the 
nudity  of  the  cow.  The  milk  is  used  to  make 
a  gruel  for  the  mutama  (a  coarse  grain) ,  which 
sometimes  is  augmented  by  a  slight  quantity 


174     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

of  blood.    This  blood  is  caught  at  the  killing 
of  an  animal,  and  if  no  animal  is  killed  they 
follow  the  method  of  the  Wakamba  and  bleed 
the  animal — after  having  pierced  its  artery 
with  an  arrow.    The  Kavirondo  are  very  skill- 
ful at  this  operation  and  bleed  the  bull  until 
he  is  ready  to  drop.    They  repeat  the  process 
on  the  same  bull  as  often  as  three  times  a  year. 
After  the  milking,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
village  repair  to  their  various   duties,  their 
herding,  their  cultivation  and  their  small  game 
hunting.     In  these  villages  everybody  works 
but  father,  and  he  sits  around  all  day  in  the 
"Abila,"  or  rest  hut,  which  is  built  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  cattle  boma,  or  near  it.    Here  the 
elders  have  their  pow-wows  and  drink  their 
beer.    There  is  another  important  hut  in  the 
village,  and  that  is  for  boys  over  six  years  old. 
As  soon  as  any  of  the  sons  is  old  enough  he 
builds  a  hut  for  himself,  and  all  the  boys  who 
have  reached  six  years  live  with  him.    At  the 
same  age  the  girls  leave  their  mother's  hut  and 
live  with  their  paternal  grandmother.    I  need 
hardly  say  that  the  supervision  of  the  grand- 
mother is  rather  inadequate,  and  that  it  does 
not  prevent  the  girls  from  slipping  away  to 
spend  the  night  with  the  boys.    Nevertheless, 
the  chastity  of  the  girls  is  rarely  impaired  by 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         175 

this  practice,  but  should  an  offense  occur  the 
boy  in  the  case  is  fined  a  cow. 

In  the  afternoon  at  two  all  return  from  their 
work  and  make  preparations  for  the  big  meal 
of  the  day,  which  is  scheduled  for  five-thirty. 
First  they  fetch  water  from  the  lake  or  from 
the  village  waterhole.  To  see  them  balance 
the  round  jars  of  water  is  a  sight  only  found 
in  Kavirondo.  First  there  will  be  a  long  line 
of  them,  chattering  as  they  go,  the  leaders 
gossiping  with  the  vanguard  forty  yards  away 
and  all  of  them  smoking  their  long-stemmed 
pipes.  All  of  the  village  scandal  is  chewed 
over  on  those  occasions,  because  there  are  no 
other  opportunities  for  general  converse.  The 
water  which  they  draw  is  beyond  description, 
because  the  cows  drink  from  the  same  well, 
standing  knee  deep  in  the  water;  the  children 
bathe  in  it ;  the  goats  and  sheep  fight  in  it,  and 
the  water  is  so  putrid  and  so  rank  that  the  mere 
odor  of  it  would  impair  a  white  man's  diges- 
tion. 

The  evening  milking  ends  the  day  of  the 
Luo  braves.  Their  routine  is  the  same  day  in 
and  day  out,  and  monotonous  as  it  seems,  it 
pleases  the  natives.  It  often  occurred  to  me 
that  it  is  almost  a  shame  to  interrupt  their 
happy-go-lucky  mode  of  living  with  our  "mod- 


176     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

ern"  European  ideas,  which  create  needs  and 
wants  of  which  they  formerly  were  unaware. 
Sometimes  it  seems  to  me  as  though  the  intro- 
duction of  civilization  has  been  detrimental  to 
their  happy  dispositions  and  to  their  one-time 
complete  contentment  with  life. 

They  have  begun  to  use  every  inch  of  the 
ground  for  agriculture  and  their  chief  product 
is  mutama,  of  which  there  are  twenty  different 
varieties.    When  planting  time  draws  near  the 
young  men  clear  the  brush  and  prepare  the 
soil;  the  actual  tilling  and  seeding  is  done  by 
the  women  and  girls.    The  latter  do  the  weed- 
ing whenever  necessary,  and  harvest  the  crop. 
The  grains  mature  in  four  months,  and  the 
women  cut  off  the  ears  one  by  one  and  gather 
them  in  big  baskets.     These  receptacles  are 
taken  to  the  village  and  deposited  in  stationary 
baskets  which  look  like  miniature  huts.    They 
are  raised  three  feet  above  the  ground  to  pre- 
vent the  rain  and  ants  from  spoiling  the  un- 
threshed  grain.    The  grain  is  kept  unthreshed, 
for  when  it  is  in  this  condition  a  weasel  cannot 
do  much  harm.    A  sort  of  manhole  is  left  near 
the  top  of  the  wall  so  that  the  grain  may  be 
removed,  and  sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  push 
a  boy  through  the  opening  to  obtain  the  con- 
tents of  the  hut.    These  granaries  are  built  of 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          177 

stalks  and  twigs  and  are  renovated  frequently. 
The  grain  is  threshed  on  a  smooth  level  which 
is  kept  smooth  by  a  copious  application  of  fer- 
tilizer. After  the  threshing  of  the  grain  it  is 
ground  by  hand  on  two  stones  placed  in  the 
veranda  in  the  hut.  The  stationary  grinding- 
stone  tapers  down  into  a  small  hole,  which  is 
smoothed  on  the  inside  with  the  usual  Kavi- 
rondo  lubricant.  This  receptacle  is  scooped 
out  again  and  again,  and  the  flour  is  collected 
in  baskets. 

The  cooking  is  crude.  Culinary  operations 
are  performed  in  cooking  pots  which  have  a 
half-inch  crust  accumulated  on  the  inside  from 
former  preparations  which  have  fermented  the 
boiling  mutama.  Stirring  with  a  stick  or  a 
wooden  ladle  does  not  improve  the  combina- 
tion of  the  old  and  new  leaven,  but  the  gruel 
or  mush  does  not  seem  to  suffer  from  the  in- 
fusion of  the  old  crust,  judging  by  the  avidity 
with  which  the  natives  attack  it.  The  real 
gourmands  make  their  mutama  more  tooth- 
some by  an  addition  of  a  gravy  drawn  from 
meat  or  chicken,  which  is  ladled  out  into  small 
dishes.  The  "bon  vivant"  takes  a  lump  of 
mutama,  which  he  kneads  with  his  fingers  and 
forms  into  a  little  ball,  in  which  he  makes  a 
depression.  Then  he  dips  the  mouthful  in  the 


178     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

gravy  dish,  filling  the  little  depression,  and 
with  resonant  gusto  the  concoction  is  devoured, 
although  the  first  tablespoonful  would  have 
afflicted  a  white  man  with  ptomaine  poisoning. 

The  woman  who  dishes  up  the  food  must 
not  walk  straight  up  to  the  waiting  dinner 
party,  but  slides  in  from  the  side.  Nor  is  she 
allowed  to  eat  with  them,  as  the  Bantu  women 
do.  The  children  also  eat  by  themselves  or 
with  their  mothers,  although  kindhearted 
fathers  may  occasionally  toss  them  a  bone  from 
which  the  meat  has  been  picked.  After  the 
meal  has  been  disposed  of  the  men  wash  their 
hands  and  take  a  drink  of  water,  the  first 
mouthful  of  which  they  spit  out  and  the  other 
of  which  they  keep  in  their  mouths,  washing 
their  teeth  with  their  ringers. 

Another  grain  which  is  commonly  grown 
is  the  wimbi,  a  product  very  similar  to  canary 
seed.  The  wimbi  is  used  principally  in  the 
brewing  of  beer  and  of  other  and  stronger 
alcoholic  drinks.  Some  of  these  beverages  are 
kept  standing  for  a  year  and  make  a  potion 
which  would  set  the  oldest  white  toper  reeling 
after  the  first  glass.  At  present  the  Kavirondo 
utilizes  every  patch  of  ground  which  will  grow 
a  bunch  of  grass  for  their  beans,  sweet  pota- 
toes, pulse,  maize  and  sim-sim,  the  latter  two 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         179 

being  produced  only  for  trading  purposes.  In 
some  parts  where  the  soil  is  rich  they  also  grow 
tobacco,  but  not  extensively.  This  tobacco  is 
allowed  to  ferment  under  stones,  after  which 
process  it  is  cut.  However,  most  of  the  to- 
bacco is  imported.  Formerly  only  women 
smoked  tobacco,  the  men  preferring  hemp, 
which  has  the  same  effect  as  opium.  The 
British  Government  has  stamped  out  the  hemp 
habit,  and  now  men  also  smoke  tobacco.  Their 
pipes  are  made  from  the  same  clay  used  for 
their  pottery  and  they  are  baked  in  small 
bowls.  The  stem  is  made  of  iron,  which  is 
obtained  from  the  Indians.  Formerly  the 
pipestems  were  constructed  of  reeds.  The 
pipe  is  passed  from  friend  to  friend  so  that  all 
may  get  a  smoke.  The  pipe  is  more  or  less  of 
a  community  property,  and  it  is  hard  to  break 
the  natives  of  this  unsatisfactory  practice. 

The  natives  of  KavirondoJ  owing  to  their 
traditional  antecedents,  are  naturally  fond  of 
fish.  The  surroundings  of  their  ancestors  must 
have  lent  themselves  to  the  fish  industry,  living 
as  .they  were  on  the  banks  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  Nile,  if  not  on  the  border  of 
Rudolf  Nyanza.  Reference  is  made  in  an- 
other part  of  this  volume  to  their  probable 
relationship  with  the  Alur  tribe,  which  occu- 


180     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

pies  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  Albert 
Nyanza  and  along  the  Nile,  flowing  out  from 
this  lake.  It  may  therefore  be  presumed  that 
they  do  not  derive  their  fondness  of  fish  from 
strangers. 

Most  likely  proximity  to  an  abundant  fish 
supply  in  Berkeley  Bay  did  more  than  any 
other  motive  to  decide  their  settlement  in 
Kavirondo.  This  conclusion  seems  very  plaus- 
ible because  they  have  occupied  the  fringes  of 
the  eastern  section  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza, 
spreading  themselves  over  as  long  a  coast  line 
as  possible,  in  preference  to  penetrating  deeper 
into  the  mainland. 

There  is  a  peculiar  interest  attached  to  their 
fishing  methods,  owing  to  the  large  scale  on 
which  they  operate.  Of  course,  the  material 
used  for  this  purpose  is  close  at  hand  and  in- 
geniously utilized. 

Students  of  Egyptology  are  aware  of  the 
two  principal  symbols  (the  lotus  and  the 
papyrus)  found  in  archeological  relics  of  the 
ancient  Pharaohs.  The  extent  of  the  influence 
of  these  ancient  autocrats  over  the  lower 
Soudan  is  characterized  by  the  papyrus  plant 
on  all  presentations,  referring  to  their  power. 
And  aptly  so,  because  the  papyrus  is  the  out- 
standing feature  of  the  upper  Nile.  From 


QUIET  VILLAGE   LIFE   IN 

An  average  village 

Cattle  released  in  the  morning 


WAKAVIRONDO 

Village  gossipers 


FISHING  INDUSTRY  IN  WAKAVIRONDO 
Weaving  the  dragnet  of  papyrus  stalks 

Weaving  the  trap  of  papyrus  fibre 
The  dragnet  placed  in  the  Victoria  Nyanza 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         181 

Fashoda  up  to  the  Albert  and  Victoria  Ny- 
anza  the  stately  papyrus  stalk  is  ubiquitous, 
bowing  its  gracefully  plumed  head  with  an 
alluring  welcome  which  has  tempted  many  a 
white  intruder  to  an  early  grave  with  its  deadly 
breath  hidden  in  a  limitless  ocean  of  Sdd.  The 
Nile  is  not  so  treacherous  to  its  own  native 
sons;  on  the  contrary,  the  ever-ready  papyrus 
stalk,  as  the  native  product  of  the  Nile,  fur- 
nishes the  network,  baskets  and  drive  mesh  of 
their  fisheries.  It  is  not  merely  an  industry, 
but  partly  a  sport  of  which  the  Luo  are  very 
fond.  They  prepare  their  nets  with  consum- 
mate skill  and  admirable  patience.  Large 
bundles  of  papyrus  stalks  are  collected  and 
strung  on  a  vertical  line  of  the  same  material, 
taking  great  care  to  twist  the  plumes  below  the 
waterline  of  the  drive  net.  This  net  is  too 
bulky  and  heavy  to  drag.  For  this  reason  they 
manufacture  cone-shaped  traps,  which  are  in- 
serted in  the  net  at  intervals  of  from  twenty 
to  thirty  feet.  Drivers  encircle  the  base  of  the 
net  around  a  semicircular  line  in  boats  and 
floats,  driving  the  fish  in  the  direction  of  the 
net.  The  fish,  finding  their  flight  cut  off,  fol- 
low the  net,  which  looks  more  like  a  submerged 
papyrus  fence  than  a  net,  and  seek  safety  in 
the  large  openings  of  the  traps,  in  which  they 


182    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

are  caught  and  slowly  gathered  in  to  shore. 
The  great  bulk  of  the  fish  is  dried  and  smoked 
for  the  market  of  Usoga,  Uganda  and  other 
parts  of  the  interior. 

Prohibition  has  not  yet  been  suggested  to 
the  Luo,  and  I  wonder  how  they  would  receive 
it.    Why  should  they  worry  about  it  so  long  as 
their  beer  is  not  up  to  the  2.75  mark?     Al- 
though they  indulge  frequently  and  copiously, 
they  cannot  be  accused  of  drunkenness  or  of 
great  excesses.    Their  beer  contains  little  alco- 
hol, and  is  more  of  a  food  than  an  intoxicant. 
It  is  made  from  the  unground  mutama,  which 
is  poured  into  a  large  urn  of  water.    The  grain 
is  allowed  to  ferment  for  a  day,  and  in  order 
to  promote  the  process  they  add  a  few  ashes 
from  the  fireplace.     The  following  morning 
the  grain  is  skimmed  from  the  urn  and  put  in 
a  basket,  which  is  tied  up  with  leaves.    Here 
it  remains  for  three  days  to  allow  the  fermen- 
tation to  continue  until  the  grain  becomes  very 
soft.     A  papyrus  mat  is  then  spread  on  the 
floor  and  the  grain  is  put  out  to  dry  so  that  it 
may  be  ground.    The  ground  grain  or  flour  is 
now  boiled,  and  it  is  stirred  continuously,  so 
that  it  will  not  burn.    Now  it  is  ready  for  the 
filter,  which  is  a  large  sack  of  grass.     For  a 
second  time  it  is  boiled,  and  when  the  mixture 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         183 

has  reached  the  boiling  point  the  beer  is  ready 
for  use.  Needless  to  say,  the  beer  is  not  bot- 
tled or  drunk  out  of  glasses,  but  the  urn,  or 
"nsuwa,"  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  hut  and 
the  guests  array  themselves  about  it  and  im- 
bibe through  a  long  reed.  The  reeds  are  passed 
round,  and  when  the  beer  is  about  to  be  ex- 
hausted, they  add  more  boiling  water. 

There  is  another  kind  of  beer  made  of  canary 
seed  which  contains  more  alcohol  and  keeps 
longer.  This  they  store  and  use  for  the  great 
occasions,  such  as  births,  marriages,  funerals 
and  other  state  ceremonies. 

Their  economic  and  judiciary  system  is 
somewhat  patriarchal.  The  whole  family 
grows  up  together  and  settles  down  around 
the  paternal  home.  All  their  cattle  are  herded 
together,  and  all  property,  such  as  cattle,  flocks 
and  personal  belongings,  are  communal.  The 
older  men  and  elders  used  to  settle  all  differ- 
ences whenever  and  wherever  they  might 
arise.  The  British  Government  has  changed 
the  mode  of  procedure  by  appointing  certain 
chiefs,  to  whom  they  have  given  large  districts 
as  their  spheres  of  jurisdiction.  These  chiefs 
are  assisted  by  overseers. 

This  system,  however,  is  not  satisfactory, 
because  many  of  these  leaders  do  not  belong 


184     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

to  what  might  be  called  the  nobility  or  elite  of 
the  tribe.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  chiefs  and  over- 
seers in  concert  to  settle  all  native  disputes 
concerning  the  ownership  of  women,  cattle, 
land  and  other  matters.  In  case  no  decision 
can  be  reached  the  action  is  appealed  to  the 
higher  court  of  white  men — the  government 
officials  of  the  district.  When  a  fine  is  im- 
posed in  such  cases  the  money  goes  to  the 
treasury  as  part  of  the  public  revenue. 
Bribery,  of  course,  exists  on  an  extensive  scale 
among  the  natives. 

The  Wakavirondo  have  no  modified  statutes 
or  laws,  but  they  have  an  unwritten  law  de- 
rived from  traditions  and  customs  "to  which 
the  memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  con- 
trary." For  instance,  to  have  killed  a  man  in 
a  quarrel  is  a  great  honor;  to  steal  a  cow  or 
something  more  valuable  is  deemed  a  clever 
performance  if  "you  can  get  away  with  it." 
Adultery,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  is 
punished  very  severely,  and  rape  or  seduction 
may  be  the  cause  of  intertribal  warfare.  A 
man  apprehended  in  an  act  of  bestiality  prac- 
tically becomes  an  outcast,  and  one  who  com- 
mits suicide  is  buried  outside  the  village  as 
a  token  of  utter  disgrace.  At  one  time  suicide 
among  women  was  quite  common. 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         185 

Wakavirondo  marriages  are  exogamous. 
They  must  not  marry  within  the  same  clan  or 
within  a  certain  degree  of  relationship.  As 
with  all  Africans,  obtaining  a  wife  is  a  question 
of  barter  and  sale.  The  price  paid  for  a  woman 
in  the  Luo  tribes  is  from  ten  to  fifteen  head  of 
cattle  and  the  bride  is  not  consulted  in  the 
transaction.  However,  the  full  price  is  not 
paid  at  the  beginning  of  the  marriage  rites. 
As  exogamy  is  strictly  enforced,  a  man  must 
seek  out  a  girl  in  a  village  far  distant  from  his 
own.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans  it 
was  not  safe  to  venture  far  from  home  into 
unknown  villages,  and  the  custom  arose  which 
made  a  wife-hunter  go  to  the  village  of  a  friend 
to  look  over  the  local  marriage  market.  If  the 
fastidious  young  man  was  not  suited,  his  friend 
took  him  to  a  more  distant  village,  and  so  the 
suitor  proceeded  on  an  almost  endless  chain 
until  he  found  an  acceptable  candidate. 

Having  been  accepted  by  the  fortunate 
young  woman,  he  would  go  to  her  father  or 
eldest  brother  and  make  formal  application 
for  her  hand.  His  friends,  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  quest,  also  went  with  him  to  the 
parents  of  the  girl.  The  financial  details  set- 
tled, the  girl  left  her  people  with  the  bride- 
groom after  she  had  taken  off  her  fringes  (the 


186     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

only  garment  she  wore)  and  accompanied  him 
without  a  stitch  of  clothing. 

Toward  evening  her  sisters  and  other  female 
relations  set  out  after  her,  singing  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  the  harp.  When  they  reached 
the  bridegroom's  temporary  dwelling  place 
they  entered  and  spread  a  hide  on  the  floor, 
placing  the  bride  upon  the  skin.  The  boys 
then  put  the  bridegroom  down  the  same  way 
and  all  left  the  hut  with  the  exception  of  two 
girls  and  two  boys,  who  remained  to  witness  the 
consummation  of  the  marriage.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  the  ceremony  the  four  young  people 
gave  a  signal  by  raising  their  voices  loudly,  and 
the  guests  outside  sang  the  praises  of  the  young 
couple,  who  were  now  solemnly  betrothed. 
The  next  morning  the  female  relations  of  the 
bride  went  home  and  on  entering  the  village 
strew  ashes  on  the  heads  of  the  bride's  parents 
as  a  symbol  of  sorrow  at  the  departure  of  the 
girl.  The  mother  gave  the  girls  a  meal  of  sim- 
sim  and  presented  them  with  some  mutama, 
from  which  they  prepared  a  delicious  broth. 
With  the  fat  which  they  had  received  the  girls 
smeared  their  bodies. 

In  the  meantime  the  bride,  who  has  stayed 
with  the  bridegroom,  has  been  presented  by 
him  with  a  tassel  made  of  the  core  of  papyrus. 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         187 

This  she  fastens  on  a  sort  of  belt  and  lets  it 
dangle  from  her  back  instead  of  in  front,  as 
she  wore  the  fringes  before  she  was  married. 
Her  only  clothes  before  marriage  are  her 
fringes,  which  are  six  inches  long  and  two 
inches  wide,  and  after  marriage  her  costume 
is  confined  to  the  plume  of  papyrus  fiber  about 
five  inches  long  dangling  from  the  back.  An- 
other gift  from  the  bridegroom  is  a  little  piece 
of  iron,  well  polished,  which  the  bride  hangs 
from  her  waist  only  during  her  bridal  days. 
(She  is  only  a  bride  and  is  not  called  "wife" 
until  the  day  when  she  begins  to  cook  for  her 
husband.)  After  ten  days  the  father  of  the 
bride  prepares  a  banquet  of  goat  meat,  which 
the  boy  and  girl  friends  take  to  the  newlyweds ; 
the  boys  carry  the  uncooked  legs,  the  girls 
bring  the  balance  of  the  meat  cooked.  Old 
women  who  may  wish  to  join  in  the  feast  must 
bring  the  drinks.  This  feast  is  called  "Myasi." 
After  this  first  feast  the  girls  are  joined  by 
the  bride's  mother  to  take  the  bride  home. 
Here  the  father  prepares  another  feast,  to 
which  the  villagers  contribute  their  modicum 
in  the  form  of  boiled  meat,  and  all  partake. 
When  the  mother  returns  the  bridegroom 
sends  two  of  his  boy  friends  with  an  animal 
to  the  father-in-law  as  the  first  installment  of 


188    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  marriage  price.  Hereafter  the  bride  doffs 
both  the  tassel  and  the  fringes  and  goes  about 
nude  until  it  is  time  to  go  permanently  to  her 
husband. 

The  bridegroom  now  presents  a  goat  to  the 
bride's  sister,  who  has  fixed  a  tassel  for  the 
bride.  If  he  overlooks  this  ceremony  he  will 
be  punished  at  his  death  by  the  wailing  of  all 
the  women,  wearing  their  tassels  as  a  sign  of 
contempt. 

When  the  greater  part  of  the  dowry  has 
been  paid  the  bridegroom  kills  a  bull  and  car- 
ries the  legs,  ribs  and  half  the  breast  to  the 
bride's  relations,  who  convey  the  offering  to 
the  father  of  the  bride.  The  remainder  of  the 
meat  is  consumed  by  the  bridegroom,  neigh- 
bors and  relations. 

From  now  on  the  bride  lives  with  her  hus- 
band and  begins  to  cook  for  him,  as  well  as 
doing  her  housewifely  duties.  Only  once  more 
does  she  leave  him,  and  this  time  he  offers  an- 
other cow  to  her  mother.  Thereupon  she  re- 
turns and  settles  down. 

There  is  one  ceremony  of  a  very  impressive 
nature  which  the  bride's  father  performs  be- 
fore the  girl  leaves  him  for  all  time.  He  takes 
a  quail  and  makes  an  incision  in  its  beak.  He 
ties  the  quail  around  her  neck  with  a  string 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         189 

provided  with  some  shells.  He  kills  a  goat 
to  provide  a  parting  feast,  and  the  girl,  be- 
decked with  quail  and  shells,  goes  back  to  her 
husband  for  better  or  for  worse. 

Another  ceremony  worthy  of  note  occurs 
three  or  four  years  after  marriage,  when  the 
bridegroom  is  called  upon  to  kill  a  bull  in  honor 
of  his  father-in-law.  He  notifies  all  his  friends 
and  they  accompany  him  to  join  in  the  feast. 
They  drive  the  bull  before  them  and  follow  in 
small  groups.  Arriving  at  the  father-in-law's 
village,  they  adjourn  to  the  banquet  and  sing 
extravagant  praises  of  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom. They  paint  and  grease  their  bodies 
fantastically  and  make  the  night  merry  with 
their  dancing  and  singing.  This  ceremony  is 
called  "Kiscra,"  and  the  "morning  after"  all 
disperse. 

These  ceremonies  are  observed  for  every 
marriage  regardless  of  how  many  wives  a  man 
may  have. 

Divorce  is  very  common  among  the  Luo. 
When  a  man  sends  his  wife  away,  or  when  she 
leaves  him,  however  slight  the  provocation,  all 
of  his  cattle  are  returned.  The  restitution  may 
be  a  prolonged  process,  because  frequently  the 
brothers  of  the  bride  have  used  the  cattle  to 
purchase  wives.  The  children  of  the  marriage 


190     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

belong  to  the  father.  One  or  two  heads  of 
cattle  are  left  as  remuneration  for  the  relatives 
of  the  wife. 

Apart  from  marriage  there  are  certain  oc- 
casions on  which,  according  to  Kavirondo  cus- 
tom, the  girls  may  make  love  to  the  boys  with- 
out contracting  or  promising  any  further  rela- 
tion of  marriage  or  serious  attachment.  How- 
ever, it  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  authorities 
that  there  is  no  actual  conjugal  relationship 
or  its  equivalent  going  on  during  such  seances. 

The  fun  is  conducted  in  the  following  man- 
ner: The  girls,  prettily  oiled  and  arrayed  in 
their  Sunday  best — a  new  tassel  and  fringes — 
proceed  to  a  district  where  one  of  their  rela- 
tions lives.  Here  they  are  met  by  the  boys, 
who  likewise  are  greased  and  painted  pictur- 
esquely. Upon  accosting  one  another  they 
shake  hands,  a  process  which,  according  to 
their  custom,  consists  of  a  series  of  hand  gym- 
nastics. Following  this  introduction  the  girls 
retire  a  few  paces  and  begin  to  sing  and  dance 
the  praises  and  the  attractive  features  of  the 
boys.  The  boys  in  turn  retire  and  sing  and 
dance,  repeating  their  evolutions  constantly. 
Presently  both  sides  dance  in  concert,  and 
slowly  but  surely  they  sidle  up  to  one  another. 
When  a  boy  finally  has  decided  upon  a  certain 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          191 

girl  he  approaches  her  and  taps  her  gently 
on  the  head  with  his  club.  If  the  girl  is  agree- 
able the  young  couple  retire  from  the  crowd 
and  make  arrangements  to  spend  the  night  to- 
gether. The  dance  continues  until  all  of  the 
boys  and  all  of  the  girls  have  mated  off.  Of 
course,  the  consequences  of  these  adventures 
are  not  serious  and  lovemaking  is  merely  a 
form  of  polite  diversion.  The  girls  stay  with 
the  boys  for  about  three  days,  after  which  they 
return  home. 

There  is  another  way  of  making  love.  He 
and  she  will  have  a  long  talk  together,  and  if 
his  sentiment  is  reciprocated  they  will  agree 
to  marry.  The  boy  then  takes  a  blade  of  grass 
and  the  girl  breaks  it  as  a  pledge.  This  is 
called  "Muma."  Should  either  party  be  un- 
faithful to  this  pledge  he  or  she  will  have  evil 
fortune  in  later  life,  and  to  prevent  this  catas- 
trophe the  girl's  father  and  the  father  of  the 
boy,  mellowed  by  a  social  drink,  will  arrange 
for  the  marriage  of  their  children.  Frequently 
such  a  marriage  is  a  failure,  because  the  young 
couple  arranged  it  only  on  an  impulse  and 
later  went  through  with  the  ceremony  so  that 
no  disaster  would  overtake  them.  In  this  in- 
stance, when  the  boy  and  the  girl  do  not  marry 
officially  they  may  live  together  with  the  "ben- 


192     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

efit  of  clergy."  Elopements  are  rare,  and 
when  they  occur  the  parents  of  the  girl  try  to 
recover  their  daughter.  Should  they  fail,  they 
try  vigorously  to  extort  a  few  heads  of  cattle 
from  the  male  eloper's  family  in  payment  of 
a  dowry. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  or  a  boy 
induces  a  married  woman  to  leave  her  husband 
and  marry  the  interloper.  In  this  case  the  first 
husband  generally  bewitches  his  wandering 
spouse  by  taking  something  which  belonged  to 
her,  such  as  a  lock  of  hair,  a  piece  of  finger- 
nail, a  rag  or  some  other  article  which  has  come 
in  contact  with  her,  and  hangs  it  up  in  a  large 
oval-shaped  calabash.  So  long  as  this  spell 
is  continued  she  will  never  thrive,  and  as  a  rule 
such  women  waste  away  until  they  are  dead. 
To  prevent  her  death  she  often  consults  a  witch 
doctor,  who  sacrifices  a  goat,  the  entrails  of 
which  he  examines  while  mumbling  some 
prayers,  and  after  this  he  will  produce  the 
article  which  the  first  husband  has  suspended 
in  his  hut.  The  spell,  however,  is  so  potent 
that  in  one  authentic  case  where  the  husband's 
talisman  was  actually  identified  by  the  guilty 
woman  she  never  recovered,  and  died  a  few 
days  later. 

The  birth  of  a  child  is  anticipated  with  the 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         193 

greatest  anxiety  both  by  the  father  and  mother, 
the  former  hoping  it  will  be  a  boy  and  the  lat- 
ter praying  that  it  will  be  a  girl.  A  barren 
woman  is  despised  among  the  Luo,  and  not  in- 
frequently a  marriage  contract  is  broken  off 
when  it  is  found  that  the  woman  will  be 
childless. 

The  Wakavirondo  reckon  ten  lunar  months 
from  the  time  of  conception  to  the  date  of  birth 
and  on  that  great  day  a  woman  too  old  to  bear 
children  is  called  in  to  nurse  the  prospective 
mother.  If  the  baby  is  a  boy  he  is  washed  by 
his  grandmother  and  by  the  midwife.  The 
cold  water  used  for  this  initial  ablution  is 
poured  into  an  earthenware  pot  and  an  ax  is 
put  in  the  pot  to  signify  that  the  boy  will  help 
his  father  in  the  building  of  huts.  There  is  no 
such  ceremony  for  a  girl.  Before  a  woman 
has  borne  a  child  or  if  she  has  borne  only  girls 
to  her  husband  no  ax  is  allowed  inside  the  hut 
because  the  wife  has  not  given  her  husband  an 
assistant  builder.  The  ax  is  left  outside  the 
house,  or  in  the  granary  until  the  first  male 
child  is  born. 

Immediately  after  the  child  is  born  it  re- 
ceives a  name  which  as  a  rule  is  decided  upon 
as  a  result  of  some  dreams  which  the  father  or 
mother  had  had  during  the  time  of  pregnancy. 


194     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

If  there  has  been  no  dream  the  witch  doctor  is 
called  in  to  name  the  child.  He  consults  the 
pebbles  and  the  calabash,  which  he  shakes  and 
rattles  until  the  name  is  revealed  to  him. 
Usually  he  finds  the  name  of  an  ancestor  and 
tells  the  parents  to  call  the  child  by  that  name. 
For  this  service  he  receives  a  basket  of  mu- 
tama.  If  the  woman  is  a  second  or  later  wife, 
she  receives  from  her  mother  (we  must  recall 
that  the  Wakavirondo  refer  to  the  first  wife  as 
the  sister  or  mother  of  the  others)  a  razor  with 
which  to  shave  the  head  of  the  baby  after  four 
days.  The  father's  head  is  also  shaved  with  this 
implement.  This  razor  is  kept  religiously  in  a 
calabash.  If  the  baby  is  a  boy  two  horse  beans 
are  fastened  between  the  legs  of  the  child  to 
notify  the  world  at  large  that  he  is  a  boy,  after 
the  naming  and  shaving  ceremonies.  When 
the  baby  is  a  girl  a  string  made  of  the  core  of 
papyrus  is  tied  around  her  waist  to  proclaim 
her  sex. 

The  names  of  the  new-born  Luo  formerly 
were  designed  to  indicate  certain  events  during 
which  the  child  was  born.  For  instance,  the 
prefix  "O"  was  attached  to  the  name  of  the 
event  for  the  boy  and  the  prefix  "A"  for  a  girl. 
Hence  Olwenyo  was  the  name  of  a  boy  born 
in  war-time,  Lwenyo  meaning  war,  and  Ayo 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          195 

jvas  the  name  of  a  girl  born  on  the  road,  Yo 
meaning  road;  Otieno  was  a  boy  born  in  the 
night — and  so  on. 

When  a  woman  is  barren  the  witch  doctor 
is  consulted,  and  he  orders  the  sacrifice  of  a 
goat,  a  chicken  or  a  cow.  The  chosen  animal 
must  be  sheltered  in  the  same  hut  with  the 
woman.  If  a  goat  has  been  selected  the  top  of 
his  ear  is  cut  off  and  a  hole  is  pierced  through 
the  fragment,  which  the  poor  woman  must 
carry  suspended  from  her  neck.  If  a  chicken 
is  chosen  the  center  claw  is  cut  off  and  worn 
similarly.  The  cow  is  not  touched.  The  ani- 
mal must  never  be  killed,  and  when  the  goat 
grows  too  old  one  of  its  kids  is  substituted. 
This  remarkable  fetish  is  kept  up  for  years, 
and  through  generations,  so  that,  even  when 
the  first  cause  of  the  sacrifice  has  passed,  the 
relatives  of  the  woman  still  continue  the  prac- 
tice. 

Twins  are  despised,  and  when  a  pair  is  born 
the  parents  must  stay  in  the  hut  for  at  least 
a  month,  never  going  out  even  for  the  most 
necessary  human  needs.  The  first  of  the  twins 
is  called  Apigo  and  the  second  Agongo  irre- 
spective of  their  sex.  The  songs  which  are 
sung  on  this  occasion  are  not  fit  to  be  heard 
nor  even  recorded.  The  father,  the  mother 


196    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

and  even  the  other  children  if  there  are  any, 
tie  leaves  of  morning  glory  on  their  backs 
above  their  waists  and  all  the  time  drums  are 
beaten. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  the  ashes  and  dirt 
accumulated  in  the  house  are  put  on  the  ver- 
anda outside  and  the  hut  is  ready  to  be  re- 
opened. When  the  inhabitants  have  emerged 
they  immediately  prepare  a  great  feast  to 
which  their  neighbors  and  friends  are  invited. 
The  guests  bring  presents  of  food,  drink,  wine 
and  beads.  Beer  is  brewed  in  great  quantities 
and  at  night  the  dance  of  the  twins  is  per- 
formed. This  dance  is  so  orgiastic  that  even 
among  the  pagans  the  boys  and  girls  are  not 
permitted  to  witness  the  display.  However, 
the  dance  settles  the  fate  of  the  twins.  The  dirt 
and  ashes  which  have  been  taken  out  of  the  hut 
are  now  covered  over,  the  supposition  being 
that  all  who  step  on  the  refuse  will  rot  away 
slowly.  After  these  ceremonies  there  can  be 
no  more  twins  in  the  family. 

A  similar  ceremony  takes  place  when  a 
woman  who  has  been  suffering  from  certain 
irregularities  conceives.  When  the  child  is 
born  the  parents  are  again  shut  in  their  hut 
but  for  a  shorter  period  of  time.  The  same 
ceremony  is  followed  although  not  on  so 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         197 

elaborate  a  scale  as  when  twins  are  born. 
Nevertheless,  here  is  another  occasion  for  the 
exchange  of  presents  and  for  a  drinking  and 
dancing  bout. 

Kavirondo  is  noted  for  the  strange  and  un- 
canny rites  which  mark  the  burial  services  of 
the  dead  members  of  the  tribe.  Wailing  occurs 
in  all  the  tribes  as  a  manifestation  of  sorrow 
but  owing  to  the  close  proximity  of  the  villages 
Kavirondo  is  a  nuisance  for  ?  >vhite  man  to 
live  in  owing  to  the  fact  th..«  We  seems  to 
be  a  wake  all  the  year  Tr  The  long 

cadences  of  the  wailing  dh  e  a/e  -particularly 
annoying  and  disturbing  at,  -  Ont  especially 
since  they  are  accompanied  by  a  monotonous 
muffled  sound  of  drums.  What  made  me  in- 
vestigate in  a  detailed  manner  into  these 
funeral  rites  was  a  discovery  I  made  of  a  grue- 
some custom  in  Mumias. 

It  was  a  sultry  day  when  I  started  out  for 
Mumias,  hot  and  suffocating.  In  the  morn- 
ing we  had  a  little  excitement  in  the  form  of 
a  Vimy  Vichy  aeroplane  sailing  into  Kisumu 
where  the  natives,  no  longer  astonished  at  any- 
thing the  white  man  might  do,  took  the  aerial 
monster  for  a  big  bird  (ndegge)  and  promptly 
proceeded  to  dance  around  it  as  if  it  were  a 
festival  occasion  for  which  they  had  been 


198    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

waiting  for  a  long  time.  It  was  not  only  the 
first  aeroplane  which  had  come  into  that  part 
of  the  country,  but  the  first  one  to  make  an 
attempt  to  cross  the  African  continent  from 
north  to  south  or  from  Cairo  to  the  Cape. 

Leaving  the  big  monster  to  the  admiration 
of  the  Kavirondo  I  started  west  on  this  long 
hot  trip  to  get  some  routine  customs  of  the 
tribe  but  what  was  my  surprise  when  I  found 
one  of  the  best  records  awaiting  me  at  the 
other  side.  We  had  a  barrel  of  trouble  but  it 
was  worth  all  that  and  more.  My  chauffeur 
even  was  arrested  for  ignoring  the  commands 
of  His  Majesty,  a  snobbish  young  English 
police  sergeant.  But  even  that  was  forgotten 
and  contributed  to  the  arrogant  ambition  of 
John  Bull's  surplusage  of  his  aristocratic  poor 
relations.  What  we  got  was  an  excellent 
record  of  the  Kavirondo  method  of  burying 
their  dead  in  a  sitting  position  with  the  head 
left  above  the  ground. 

The  death  and  burial  of  a  Kavirondo  differs 
completely  from  that  in  any  other  tribe  with 
which  I  am  acquainted.  When  the  death  of  a 
native  is  expected  he  is  put  on  the  bare  floor. 
All  of  his  clothes,  if  he  possessed  any,  are  taken 
from  him,  he  is  stripped  of  his  ornaments  and 
he  is  left  alone  to  fight  his  last  struggle  with 


A  WAKAVIRONDO  VILLAGE  CHIEF 
Sugar  loaf  hat   is  his  distinctive  headgear 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         199 

death.  The  Kavirondo  are  careful  to  deprive 
him  of  his  ornaments  for  fear  that  the  evil 
spirit  will  haunt  his  relatives  and  friends  and 
that  the  victim  himself  never  will  have  peace 
after  the  fatal  hour.  His  last  breath  is  not  al- 
lowed to  escape  him  before  his  relatives  begin 
to  push  his  legs  up  against  his  chin,  and  fold 
his  arms,  with  the  hands  upward.  As  soon  as 
he  has  breathed  his  last,  the  women  and  girls  of 
the  village  begin  the  death  wail,  which  can  be 
heard  far  away;  the  dead  man's  warbonnet  is 
hoisted  up  on  a  flagpole  placed  near  his  hut. 
At  this  signal  the  neighboring  boys  prepare 
for  the  funeral  rites,  and  early  the  next  morn- 
ing they  journey  to  the  next  village  where  the 
dead  man  lived.  They  drive  the  cattle  out  to 
graze  for  themselves,  while  they  paint  them- 
selves for  the  occasion.  The  boys  put  on  full 
war  costumes  with  spears  in  hand  and  head 
gear  to  crown  their  nakedness.  The  hats  are 
monstrous  apparitions,  and  ought  to  rouse  the 
dead  from  their  graves.  They  are  large 
sugar-loaf-shaped  creations,  covered  with  a 
monkey  skin  or  ostrich  feathers  and  with 
ostrich  plumes  jabbed  into  them  from  all  sides. 
If  no  crown  is  available  the  boys  stick  feathers 
all  over  their  hair,  which  fashion  makes  them 
appear  fantastically  absurd.  From  their  arms 


200    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

they  suspend  the  ends  of  cow  tails,  which  are 
allowed  to  trail  along  the  ground.  They 
fasten  fetlocks  made  of  strips  of  skin  around 
their  ankles.  Their  heads  are  smeared  with  a 
reddish  clay  or  with  greased  ashes,  which  give 
them  a  ghastly  appearance  and  their  faces  are 
covered  with  a  paint  of  various  ochers,  which 
gives  them  a  fearfully  war-like  appearance. 

Formerly  on  the  death  of  a  prominent  man 
they  used  to  make  a  raid  on  some  neighboring 
village  whose  inhabitants  were  supposed  to 
have  brought  down  on  them  this  calamity. 
Now  they  roam  about  the  countryside  until 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  they  arrive 
at  the  village  where  the  death  occurred. 

On  hearing  the  horns  of  the  boys  the  women 
increase  their  wailing  and  some  of  the  boys  now 
enter  the  hut  and  carry  the  corpse,  depositing 
it  outside  the  hut  near  the  entrance.  The 
mourners  on  their  arrival  join  in  the  chorus  of 
lamentation,  and  even  the  cattle  seem  to  take 
up  the  strain  by  lowing.  Indeed,  the  noise  is 
maddening.  The  boys  finally  squat  down  on 
the  ground  and  the  burial  takes  place,  the 
grave  having  been  dug.  If  the  father,  mother 
or  oldest  child  dies,  the  grave  is  dug  inside  the 
hut,  but  the  younger  children  are  buried  out- 
side the  house  under  the  veranda.  Sometimes 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO         201 

when  an  old  and  revered  inhabitant  has  died, 
the  natives  build  a  new  hut  as  a  mausoleum  to 
rest  in.  The  wife,  assisted  by  some  women 
and  one  man,  digs  the  grave  for  her  dead  hus- 
band, and  the  husband,  assisted  by  some 
women,  does  the  same  for  his  deceased  wife. 
Young  boys  help  the  father  to  bury  the  son, 
and  young  girls  and  the  mother  lay  away  the 
daughter.  The  grave  is  patterned  somewhat 
in  the  shape  of  a  box,  narrow  at  the  feet  and 
broadening  out  at  the  shoulders.  The  head 
rests  on  a  cushion  formed  of  earth,  and  in 
many  cases  it  is  laid  in  a  sort  of  alcove,  dug 
away  from  the  main  grave.  A  man's  head 
rests  on  his  right  arm,  and  the  woman's  is 
placed  on  the  left  of  her  body. 

The  relations  who  live  in  the  village  where 
the  person  has  died  do  not  cook  their  food  or 
milk  their  cows  for  three  days,  but  receive  their 
food  and  milk  from  friends  who  sympathize 
with  the  bereaved.  The  first  evening  after  the 
death  they  kill  a  sheep  to  pacify  the  spirit  of 
the  departed.  The  skin  of  the  sheep  is  cut  into 
small  strips  which  the  girls  and  children  tie 
around  their  wrists  and  ankles,  while  the  boys 
make  rings  for  their  little  fingers.  After  the 
dead  person  has  been  in  his  grave  for  three 
days,  the  house  is  swept  and  all  the  villagers 


walk  up  the  path  leading  to  the  house,  and  are 
shaved.  When  the  father  dies  the  oldest  son  is 
put  on  the  father's  chair,  and  some  article  used 
by  his  parent  as  a  hoe,  a  stick,  or  a  pipe  is  given 
to  the  son  to  signify  that  he  is  the  legal  heir  and 
successor. 

The  ceremonies  have  now  begun  in  real 
earnest  and  presently  the  boys  and  the  men, 
decked  out  in  full  war  paraphernalia  riding  on 
or  walking  behind  their  pet  cows,  begin  to 
gather.  The  women  and  girls  also  come  up 
slowly  in  their  invisible  costumes,  greased 
liberally,  all  of  them  anxious  to  join  in  the 
funeral  service.  All  walk  together  to  the 
house  where  the  burial  is  taking  place  and  in 
procession  they  march  to  a  large  open  space, 
where  they  give  vent  to  their  feelings  of  sorrow 
in  the  most  violent  manner.  It  looks  more 
like  a  tournament  than  a  funeral  service.  The 
men  and  boys  array  themselves  in  two  lines, 
and  run  up  and  down  furiously,  until  finally 
they  begin  to  charge  at  one  another  as  in  battle. 
When  they  come  together  the  clash  does  not 
materialize,  they  stick  their  spears  in  the 
ground  with  a  flourish,  and  draw  them  out  to 
return  to  a  new  charge.  This  sham  battle  con- 
tinues for  a  long  time  until  the  women's  turn 
has  come.  When  the  sign  is  given,  women 


THE  WAKAVIRONDO          203 

and  girls  raise  a  most  unearthly  howl,  beating 
the  air  and  stamping  their  feet  on  the  ground 
like  a  mob  of  maniacs.  They  continue  their 
efforts  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  after 
which  they  are  completely  exhausted.  At 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they  retire  and 
go  home.  If  the  deceased  is  a  person  of  im- 
portance this  service  will  be  repeated  after  a 
few  months. 

A  woman  bewails  her  husband  for  two  or 
three  months  and  her  child  for  one  month. 
The  men  and  boys  finish  their  mourning  in  a 
few  days.  If  death  takes  too  large  a  toll  the 
Kavirondo  abandon  their  village  and  build 
elsewhere  because  the  evil  spirits  have  gotten 
control  of  the  place.  In  this  case  they  pile 
stones  on  the  graves  so  that  other  people  will 
not  cultivate  the  ground.  They  revere  the 
dead,  and  offer  up  many  sacrifices  for  them  in 
order  to  pacify  their  spirits  which  are  supposed 
to  roam  about.  Suicides,  many  of  whom  are 
women,  used  to  be  buried  outside  the  village 
and  a  sheep  was  killed  and  offered  as  a  sacri- 
fice by  throwing  a  small  portion  of  its  flesh 
toward  the  sun.  They  scourged  the  tree  on 
which  the  suicide  had  hung  himself  with  the 
entrails  of  a  sheep,  after  which  they  dug  up  the 
tree  with  all  its  roots;  it  was  then  left  so  that 


it  could  be  easily  burned.  If  a  person  hanged 
himself  in  the  house,  the  same  sacrifice  of  the 
sheep  was  performed,  and  the  sheep  skin  cut 
into  strips  which  the  women  wore  around  their 
necks.  The  body  was  buried  under  the  ver- 
anda, and  the  house  abandoned  and  shunned 
until  it  fell  down  and  only  then  was  another 
one  built. 

I  mentioned  above  that  I  found  practised 
in  Mumias  (the  northwest  corner  of  the 
Kavirondo  district)  a  custom  of  burying  the 
body  of  a  dead  chief  with  the  head  protruding 
above  the  ground.  Of  this  I  saw  an  example 
of  a  chief  (the  brother  of  the  famous  Mumia) 
who  had  died  in  September,  1917.  The  de- 
tails of  the  custom  call  for  the  evacuation  of 
the  hut  in  which  he  died  by  everybody  except 
his  two  favorite  wives.  The  latter  guard  the 
remains  in  the  hut  where  he  is  buried  with  his 
head  above  the  ground.  This  head  or  skull 
they  grease  with  butter  daily  until  the  fleshy 
substance  has  disappeared.  During  all  this 
time  they  cover  the  head  with  an  earthenware 
cooking  pot  after  the  dressing.  When  finally 
the  bare  bony  skull  only  remains  the  head  is 
wrenched  from  the  vertebra?  and  buried  with 
the  balance  of  the  remains.  About  that  time 
the  hut  also  falls  into  ruins  and  the  two  widows 


ENJOYING  NATURE  DRINKS 
Light   refreshment   during   the   dance 
Two  topers  enjoying  their  home  brew 


205 

have  another  hut  or  two  built  close  by  where 
they  live  out  the  balance  of  their  days  dutifully 
guarding  the  spot  where  once  the  "Master" 
lived. 

A  murderer  used  to  be  considered  a  hero  and 
honored  as  such.  When  a  group  of  men  had 
killed  an  enemy  clansman  the  murderers  would 
go  to  the  nearest  village  having  painted  their 
right  cheeks  with  a  reddish  ocher  and  their  left 
with  a  whitish — a  confession  of  the  crime.  A 
male  sheep  was  killed  and  the  skin  was  cut  into 
long  strips  which  the  murderers  wore  sus- 
pended from  their  arms.  In  the  meantime 
some  charms  composed  of  certain  woods  were 
collected  and  sprinkled  over  the  neighboring 
villages  as  though  a  blessing  were  being  %  im- 
parted. If  a  murderer  had  not  blessed  the 
village  and  he  met  a  person  of  that  village  the 
person  he  encountered  would  die. 

Formerly  when  a  murder  was  committed  by 
a  single  party  the  murderer  received  in  each 
village  which  he  entered  a  chicken  or  an- 
other gift  of  similar  value.  A  day  or  two 
after  a  murder  all  went  to  the  village  where  the 
murder  had  been  committed  and  sang  the 
praises  of  the  murderer.  After  four  days  the 
villagers  used  to  go  to  the  river  to  wash  them- 
selves, threw  strips  of  sheep  skin  into  the  river, 


206     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

and  suspended  from  their  necks  owls  whose 
beaks  had  been  cut.  Now  murderers  go  to  the 
paths  leading  to  the  market  from  the  villages 
and  receive  the  offerings  of  men  and  women 
going  to  the  market.  These  offerings  consist 
of  grain,  flour,  meats,  and  the  like.  A  mur- 
der was  often  followed  by  tribal  and  clan  wars, 
but  for  this  reason  the  British  government  has 
lately  managed  to  stamp  out  most  of  the  in- 
centives to  this  crime. 


THE  CONGO 

HAVING  completed  our  work  in  Kavirondo 
our  party  took  the  S.  S.  Winifred  to  Ntebbe, 
the  governmental  headquarters  of  Uganda. 
On  the  Victoria  Nyanza  many  memories 
crowded  each  other  into  the  background  as  we 
sailed  along  smoothly  on  the  mirrorlike  surface 
of  this  Mid- African  lake  on  which  not  a  ripple 
broke  the  brilliant  sheet  of  reflected  sun- 
light. 

My  first  voyage  on  the  little  Ruwenzori 
came  vividly  before  my  revision  of  the  past 
when,  in  1897,  I  had  skipped  from  island  to 
island  and  occasionally  to  a  banana  plantation 
on  the  mainland  to  seek  for  night  shelter  or 
food.  When  the  Bavuma  Islands  hove  into 
sight  I  remembered  the  times  when  I  had  been 
rowed  from  the  borders  of  Kyagwe  in  native 
canoes  manned  by  a  dozen  or  more  strong 
muscled  oarsmen,  whose  rhythmic  strokes,  ac- 
companied by  monotonous  if  loud  songs  of 
spontaneous  composition,  moved  the  frail 


207 


208     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

shivering  excuse  for  a  boat  with  marvelous 
speed  towards  their  fishing  hamlets. 

The  sight  of  the  now  deserted  Kome  Islands 
recalled  the  deplorable  ravages  of  sleeping 
sickness  which,  in  less  than  two  years,  had  laid 
waste  a  thickly  populated  group  of  thriving 
fishermen's  communities,  leaving  only  sad 
memories  to  the  missionaries  whose  efforts  had 
built  up  such  promising  missions.  I  could  al- 
most feel  the  graveyard  silence  which  hovered 
over  the  fertile  and  luxurious  wilderness  of 
their  dark  green  forests,  bleeding  with  nature's 
own  abundant  rubber  supply.  The  sad  mem- 
ories of  the  hundreds  of  natives  whom  I  had 
silently  witnessed  sleeping  their  lives  away 
into  unconscious  extinction  almost  seared  my 
soul.  I  could  see  my  old  friend  Mumbo  even 
now  standing  before  me  with  his  jubilant  court, 
when  he  announced  his  elevation  to  the  chief- 
tainship of  these  Kome  Islands,  which  he  only 
governed  a  couple  of  years  before  the  great 
catastrophe  spread  its  sure  but  silent  talons 
over  the  little  archipelago  to  crush  out  every 
living  soul  of  its  prosperous  units. 

Skipping  away  from  this  group  of  islands, 
I  glued  my  glasses  on  the  next,  comprising 
the  Sesse  Islands  which,  although  I  had  never 
visited  them,  yet  will  always  bring  back  to  me 


THE  CONGO  209 

the  poor  misguided  rivalry  between  the  French 
Catholic  and  English  Protestant  missionaries 
of  the  late  eighties  and  early  nineties,  when 
finally  a  long  brooding  spirit  of  jealousy 
culminated  in  the  fierce  war  of  the  Bangereza 
and  Bafaraza  (English  and  French) ;  when 
Bishop  Hirth  had  been  fired  upon  by  Captain 
Williams  when  he  escaped  with  King  Mwanga 
of  Uganda  across  this  very  sheet  of  water 
which  I  now  traversed.  And  yet  again  this 
very  rivalry  had  worked  its  own  way  to  make 
the  native  partisans  loyal  to  the  cause  they  had 
espoused  and  made  them  use  all  their  influence 
on  their  friends,  which  precipitated  the  almost 
general  choice  of  religion  in  Uganda  so  that 
this  central  tribe  in  Africa  may  now  be  classed 
as  a  Christian  tribe  amid  the  surrounding  riot 
of  paganism. 

Crossing  from  port  to  starboard,  I  now 
gazed  on  the  well  known  hills  of  Uganda, 
among  which  my  happiest  years  were  spent. 
My  very  soul  was  stirring  when  I  recognized 
Nakasero's  long  straight  sky  line  around 
whose  sloping  curves  I  crawled  on  that  never- 
to-be-forgotten  September  night  in  '97  when 
I  had  been  recalled  from  my  inland  mission 
to  join  the  slender  European  forces  against  the 
700  well  armed  Soudanese  mutineers.  Con- 


210    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

flicting  native  reports  had  it  that  the  mutineers 
had  surrounded  Kampala  from  the  Northeast 
and  strung  a  chain  of  outposts  across  my 
path  leading  into  the  capitol,  and  guided 
by  a  Muganda  Mussu  hunter  I  had  been 
led  silently  through  the  high  elephant-grass- 
covered  mitala  into  Kampala,  only  to  find  out 
that  the  mutineers  were  held  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Nile.  But  that  night  and  the  succeed- 
ing ten  days  of  suspense  and  the  long  guerilla 
war  following,  when  700  guns  and  practically 
all  available  ammunition  were  in  the  hands  of 
the  Nubians  and  we  were  cut  off  from  all  as- 
sistance by  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  when 
there  were  only  40  whites  in  the  whole  Protec- 
torate ;  those  long  night  vigils  in  solitary  posts 
where  silent  hostile  scouts  crouching  toward 
the  white  centrals  were  forever  on  search  for 
one's  life  like  leopards  of  the  dark;  when  one 
only  could  rely  upon  the  bravest  and  most 
faithful  of  one's  mission  boys  and  all  others 
had  fled  to  safety;  when  Nanganga  had  sur- 
rounded me  three  times  at  night  and  I  was  at 
his  mercy,  having  not  one  gun  on  the  premises, 
and  he,  the  old  elephant  hunter,  supported 
with  40  rifles,  and  I  had  outmaneuvered  him  by 
having  the  war  drums  beaten  with  scarcely  a 
dozen  unarmed  boys  around  me;  all  these  remi- 


THE  CONGO  211 

niscences  passed  my  memory  as  in  a  parade  of 
black  ogres.  But  amidst  them  rose  my  Bagan- 
da  friends,  whom  I  was  now  about  to  visit 
again  after  an  absence  of  17  years. 

Having  landed  at  Ntebbe,  an  agent  of 
Childs  and  Joseph,  a  New  York  firm,  whisked 
me  now  in  a  motor  car  to  Kampala  on  splendid 
roads  where,  on  the  night  of  13th  May,  1897, 
Father  Biermans  (now  Bishop  of  Uganda) 
had  led  me  by  the  hand  through  narrow  foot- 
paths when  I  was  blind  from  the  effects  of  the 
tick  fever  and  together,  strangers  in  a  strange 
land  guided  by  a  mission  boy,  we  arrived  un- 
announced at  the  reed  gate  of  the  Nsambya 
mission  at  2  A.  M.  after  traveling  six  months 
and  seven  days  from  London  to  this  our  des- 
tination. "Mengo  of  the  Seven  Hills"  came 
into  view  and  with  it  my  seven  years  of  hard 
service  and  successful  efforts  shot  into  the  ret- 
ina of  my  eyes  like  a  vivid  living  picture  as 
I  had  seen  them  only  in  my  dreams  and  dis- 
stant  contemplations  during  this  long  period 
of  absence.  What  blissful  memories  surged 
into  my  very  being  physically  shaking  my 
frame  with  their  absorbing  thrills  such  as  only 
pioneers  may  lay  claim  to ! 

I  wish  I  had  time  and  space  here  to  set  down 
the  pleasant  experiences  of  the  next  four 


212     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

weeks  in  Uganda,  but  I  must  leave  them  for 
another  chapter  or  maybe  a  book  on  the 
Baganda  whom  I  must  now  only  mention  "en 
passant"  and  in  transit  to  the  Congo. 

Leaving  Uganda  we  wended  our  way  part 
by  road  and  part  by  steamer  to  Jinja,  the 
source  of  the  Nile  in  Usoga.  Here  we  fol- 
lowed the  Nile  as  far  as  the  lake  Kyoga  which 
we  crossed  on  a  comfortable  flat-bottom  steam- 
boat. It  is  worth  mentioning  here  as  a 
digression  that  the  Nile  is  3,461  miles  long 
whilst  the  elevation  of  Jinja  is  3,462  feet,  leav- 
ing the  Nile  a  fall  of  one  foot  per  mile  on  its 
long  journey  to  Alexandria  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

There  are  two  features  in  the  illustrations  of 
this  collection  which  are  foreign  to  t"^  contents 
of  the  book,  but  the  pictures  are  too  rare  to 
cast  them  ande,  and  a  little  explanation  will 
be  necessary  to  elucidate  their  meaning. 

The  hippopotamus  picture  was  taken  by 
Mr.  Klein,  who  killed  it.  The  name  of  the 
"horse  of  the  Nile"  which  really  belongs  to 
the  pig  family  rather  than  to  the  equine  genus, 
is  a  mistaken  nomenclature  for  which  the  early 
philologicians  are  more  to  blame  than  the  bi- 
ologists. The  Nile  is  teeming  with  them,  and 
we  saw  schools  of  50  and  60  of  the  beasts  from 


A  "HIPPO"  IS  A  GIFT  OF  THE  NILE 
Light  spot  showing  hippo  coming  up  for  a  breath 

The  carcass  is  rolled  up  the  bank 
Saffari  boys  enjoy  the  leatherlike  meat 


THE  CONGO  213 

the  railing  of  the  Caisar,  which  took  us  from 
Rajaff  to  Karthum. 

The  porters  of  a  caravan  are  very  fond  of 
"hippo"  meat,  although  it  is  altogether  too 
tough  a  task  for  our  white  digestions  to  tackle. 

The  Shilluck  are  a  Nilotic  tribe  who  live  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Nile  in  and  around 
Fashoda,  of  Colonel  Marchant  fame.  Whilst 
the  Pigmies  in  the  Congo  Forest  are  the 
smallest  race  in  Africa,  so  are  the  Shilluck  the 
tallest.  Of  the  hundred  and  more  Shilluck  I 
saw  there  were  at  least  four  who  measured  over 
7  feet,  whilst  there  was  not  one  under  6  feet. 

The  men  have  a  peculiar  mode  of  hair- 
dressing.  They  spread  out  the  hair  on  the 
crown  or  tonsure  in  the  form  of  a  matted  flat 
surface  very  similar  to  our  collegiate  caps. 
The  impression  of  this  fanciful  design  topping 
an  otherwise  totally  naked  appearance  looks 
very  ridiculous.  The  Shilluck  are  fearsome 
warriors  with  long  shields  made  of  crocodile 
hides  and  long  spears  which  at  rest  are 
planted  in  the  ground,  head  down.  Their 
dance  is  more  like  a  warlike  attack  than  a 
"gyratic"  performance. 

After  crossing  the  Kyoga  Lake  on  another 
flat-bottom  stern-wheeler  we  landed  at  Port 
Masindi  in  Bunyoro,  where  we  started  on  an- 


214    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

other  cross-country  jaunt,  part  by  motor  truck 
and  part  on  foot,  to  Butyaba  on  the  east  coast 
of  the  Albert  Nyanza. 

The  Congo  had  always  been  an  alluring 
mystery  to  me.  Now  we  were  so  near  that  I 
could  not  withstand  the  spell  of  the  forest  and 
I  decided  to  lift  that  enigmatic  veil  which  had 
always  hung  over  this  far-famed  wilderness. 
The  Pigmies  particularly  were  fairytale 
phantoms  whom  I  longed  to  see  in  the  flesh, 
however  far  they  might  be  removed  from  the 
public  eye.  Their  elusiveness  seemed  to  grow 
in  reverse  proportion  to  our  distance  from 
them,  and  this  only  whetted  my  appetite. 

We  had  been  through  Uganda  and  Busoga, 
and  since  I  had  planned  to  go  back  by  the  Nile 
route,  we  made  arrangements  to  include  a  visit 
to  the  Pigmies.  The  most  peculiar  thing  about 
the  route  to  the  Congo  is  that  no  one  in  British 
East  Africa  seems  to  know  much  about  it,  and 
I  had  given  up  trying  to  find  out  anything 
definite  as  to  time  tables  or  the  direction  in 
which  we  had  to  travel.  I  discovered  in 
Uganda  that  there  were  two  routes  open,  the 
Kasenyi  and  the  Mahagi  entree.  These  two 
ports  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Lake  Albert 
were  the  only  certain  guideposts  of  which  we 
could  learn.  As  to  plans  for  further  traveling 


THE  CONGO  215 

or  data  concerning  the  shortest  routes  to  the 
Pigmies,  there  were  so  many  different  opinions 
—mostly  supported  by  hearsay  only — that  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  trust  in  chance. 

Therefore  I  sent  half  of  our  party  on  to 
Nimuli  to  finish  whatever  exposed  film  had  not 
been  developed,  and  Dr.  Shattuck  and  I 
stepped  ashore  at  Mahagi  Port  the  day  after 
we  landed  in  Butyaba.  I  had  tried  to  get 
transportation  to  Kasenyi,  which  is  the  south- 
most  port  on  the  Albert,  by  rowboat  or  sailing 
vessel,  but  the  commander  of  the  ports  raised 
all  sorts  of  objections  on  account  of  the  rough- 
ness of  the  lake.  I  remonstrated  that  the  dan- 
gers were  ours,  not  his,  but  this  made  the  old 
seadog  all  the  more  stubborn.  I  then  tried  the 
Provincial  Commissioner,  who  I  was  told, 
might  secure  me  a  native  canoe  with  enough 
rowers  to  get  us  to  the  Congo  from  Butyaba 
in  three  days. 

Here  I  struck  a  new  objection — that  of  the 
sleeping  sickness,  which  is  still  raging  along 
the  shore  of  the  Albert  Nyanza.  A  number  of 
formalities  would  have  to  be  gone  through 
which  would  take  more  time  than  we  could 
save  by  taking  the  southern  route.  So  at  the 
eleventh  hour  we  decided  to  go  to  Mahagi,  the 
port  of  call  of  that  week,  and  had  to  add  an- 


216    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

other  two  weeks  to  our  already  long  trip 
through  these  inhospitable  regions.  I  had 
hoped  that  we  might  be  able  to  get  down  from 
Mahagi  to  the  Forest  and  back  again  in  time 
to  catch  the  next  week's  steamer  from  Kasenyi 
back  to  Butyaba  and  Nimuli,  but  little  did  I 
then  know  what  problems  confronted  us. 

No  sooner  had  we  reached  Mahagi  than  the 
plot  began  to  thicken.  We  seemed  fortunate 
in  meeting  two  Belgian  Government  officials 
who  had  been  in  the  country  for  a  long  time 
and  who,  I  supposed,  would  be  better  able 
than  any  one  to  give  us  definite  information. 
Nothing  was  further  from  the  mark.  They 
contradicted  all  the  information  that  we  had 
obtained  so  far  and  contradicted  one  another. 
It  seemed  that  there  was  no  definite  informa- 
tion to  be  had  or  that  there  was  an  under- 
standing between  these  officials  to  keep  out 
intruders  at  all  costs.  This  theory  has  become 
a  conviction  since  then.  Why  is  it  that  we 
received  contradictory  information  from  all 
these  people  unless  it  was  to  bewilder  us  and 
to  dissuade  us  from  going  into  the  forest? 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  of  them  advised  us 
not  to  attempt  the  trip.  But  we  were  not  to 
be  discouraged  so  easily. 

Then  came  another  bolt  from  a  clear  sky. 


THE  CONGO  217" 

Although  we  were  merely  transient  visitors 
for  as  short  a  time  as  possible,  we  were  told 
that  we  would  have  to  pay  the  full  amount  of 
customs  duty  and  the  full  fee  for  the  use  of 
our  rifles — or  even  for  possessing  them. 
Bonded  guarantees  for  the  safe  return  of  all 
the  dutiable  articles  were  not  suggested  until 
I  had  shown  that  no  imposition  could  deter 
me  from  entering  the  Great  Forest.  I  called 
every  bluff,  and  finally  we  were  told  of  the 
best  way  to  achieve  our  ends. 

But  again  we  found  that  we  had  been  de- 
ceived, either  intentionally  or  otherwise. 
When  we  arrived  at  the  post  where  we  were 
supposed  to  find  the  best  authority  (a  Belu- 
chistan  Indian  by  the  name  of  Selumani)  we 
found  ourselves  thwarted  again,  this  time  in  an 
almost  disastrous  manner.  We  traveled  eco- 
nomically and  had  obtained  twenty  porters  for 
our  luggage.  Thinking  at  the  outset  that  we 
Would  reach  the  forest  in  three  days,  we  had 
counted  on  keeping  these  porters  until  our  re- 
turn. But  when  we  found  that  we  had  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  town  called  Kilo — a  matter  of  five 
days  more  marching — the  porters  left  us  and 
would  not  even  come  another  day's  trip  with 
us  to  Fataki,  where  we  were  sure  to  get  other 
porters.  The  Indian  told  us  that  we  should 


218    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

meet  up  with  the  White  Fathers  at  Fataki 
and  that  they  were  certain  to  be  able  not  only 
to  provide  us  with  porters,  but  to  direct  us 
the  proper  way.  We  appealed  to  the  local 
chief,  Julu,  for  porters,  but  this  worthy  had 
not  influence  enough  with  his  people  to  get  us 
a  guide,  not  to  mention  twenty  porters.  Dr. 
Shattuck  volunteered  to  leave  next  morning 
early  to  go  to  the  White  Fathers  and  to  send 
back  porters  to  take  me  and  the  luggage  away 
from  where  we  were  marooned.  He  started 
early  the  next  day,  and  I  had  just  settled  down 
in  the  afternoon  to  compose  a  long  article  when 
in  walked  Dr.  Shattuck  after  a  futile  march 
of  seven  hours  and  a  half,  saying  that  he  had 
completed  a  circle. 

Now  it  was  up  to  me,  footsore  and  disabled 
as  I  was  through  a  festering  blister,  to  take 
to  the  road  and  to  make  a  five-hour  journey 
which  turned  out  to  be  seven  hours.  At  8:30 
P.  M.  I  finally  reached  the  priests.  I  was 
tired,  even  more  footsore  and  hungry,  without 
any  baggage  whatsoever,  and  they  gave  me 
all  I  needed  and  looked  after  my  torn  feet, 
which  pained  me  sadly.  But  all  the  hardships 
were  forgotten  when  they  gave  me  the  glad 
tidings  that  I  would  surely  find  what  I  sought 


THE  CONGO  219 

in  another  day's  march  from  Kilo,  which  is  the 
nearest  white  settlement  to  the  Mambuti. 

The  next  morning  at  eight,  twenty  porters 
were  on  their  way  to  Dr.  Shattuck,  who  ar- 
rived at  Fataki  the  day  after.  So  here  we  are 
to-day,  a  week  after  leaving  Butyaba,  still  at 
the  mission  of  the  White  Fathers  at  Fataki, 
hoping  to  get  away  from  here  to-morrow,  on 
our  way  to  Kilo  and  the  Forest.  One  thing 
is  accomplished:  we  have  the  information 
which  we  had  tried  so  hard  to  get,  and  there  is 
great  probability  of  seeing  the  Pigmies.  What 
seems  stranger  than  anything  else  is  that  the 
Fathers  can  win  us  an  opportunity  to  film  the 
little  fellows,  whereas  the  officials  gave  us  little 
or  no  hope  of  picturing  them.  The  influence 
of  the  Fathers  over  the  natives  is  beyond  ques- 
tion far  greater  than  that  of  the  officials. 

A  striking  incident  demonstrated  this  only 
the  day  before  yesterday.  There  was  an  engi- 
neer, whom  I  met  at  a  resthouse  of  Tsupu, 
whose  porters  had  run  away.  He  had  ordered 
the  local  chief  to  get  him  twenty  porters  the 
next  morning.  When  our  porters  passed  the 
camp  he  was  still  minus  porters,  and  he  seized 
mine  as  well  as  the  letter  I  had  written  to  Dr. 
Shattuck,  and  these  porters  were  compelled  to 


220    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

carry  his  loads  as  far  as  Julu,  where  Dr.  Shat- 
tuck  was  waiting  for  them.    Here,  with  all  his 
governmental  influence,  the  engineer  was  un- 
able to   obtain   other   porters   to   carry   him 
further,  but  had  to  send  to  the  nearest  head- 
quarters for  another  lot.    The  Fathers  had  no 
difficulty  in  getting  us  porters,  not  only  to  go 
and  bring  in  Dr.  Shattuck,  but  also  for  our 
further  trip  to  the  forest.    "There's  a  reason." 
Now,  some  one  will  ask,  is  the  filming  of  the 
Pigmies  worth  all  this  trouble?     More  than 
that!     I  have  made  a  discovery  which  so  far 
I  have  never  heard  spoken  of  by  any  of  the 
authorities  whom  I  have  met,  nor  have  I  seen 
any   mention   of   it   in    any    anthropological 
authorities  which  I  have  consulted  with  re- 
gard to  the  tribes  of  the  Congo.    Despite  all 
our  mishaps  and  this  long  roundabout  way  to 
Kilo,  I  have  made  this  observation:  that  the 
tribes   which   inhabit   this   district — some   70 
miles    wide    and    140    miles    long,    between 
Mahagi  and  Kilo  and  between  the  shores  of 
the  Albert  Nyanza  and  a  northern  branch  of 
the  great  forest — were  gradually  decreasing 
in  height  as  we  went  along.     The  Walur,  who 
inhabit  the  district  between  Mahagi  Port  and 
Mahagi  Station  and  for  twenty  miles  further 
southwest,  are  above  average  size.    They  are 


THE  CONGO     .  221 

a  brother  tribe  of  the  Wakavirondo  and  are 
of  Nilotic  origin.  They  also  speak  the  same 
language  as  the  Kavirondo.  This  was  my  first 
find  and  rather  a  surprise,  for  there  is  a  dis- 
tance of  some  six  hundred  miles  between  the 
two  branches,  not  to  mention  two  lakes,  the 
Kyoga  and  the  Albert  Nyanza. 

The  next  tribe  bordering  on  the  Walur  are 
called  the  Walendu,  who  are  purer  Nilotic 
than  the  Walur,  and  who  are  nearly  a  foot 
shorter  in  stature.  They  are  decidedly  less 
intelligent,  and  altogether  below  the  normal 
scale  of  mentality,  even  as  compared  with  their 
neighbors,  the  Walur,  who  in  turn  are  inferior 
to  their  brothers,  the  Kavirondo.  Besides,  the 
Walendu  are  abnormally  cruel  in  their  deal- 
ings with  each  other.  Incidents  showing  this 
cruelty  happen  here  almost  every  week.  They 
seem  to  take  a  delight  in  cutting  one  another's 
throats  and  still  more  in  disemboweling  their 
victims  at  the  slightest  provocation.  The  worst 
of  this  barbarity  is  that  the  culprit  flees  after 
the  deed  and  leaves  his  nearest  of  male  kin  to 
pay  for  the  damage  that  he  has  done.  It  is  the 
custom  of  these  natives  to  seize  the  brother, 
who  may  be  absolutely  innocent  of  his  kins- 
man's crime,  and  to  visit  on  him  the  same  afflic- 
tion which  the  criminal  has  visited  on  his  vie- 


222     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

tim.  The  language  of  the  Walendu  is  still  a 
greater  manifestation  of  their  low  intellect. 
It  is  a  language  of  monosyllables  without  a 
trace  of  syntax,  articles  or  even  pronouns.  One 
word  or  syllable  has  from  five  to  ten  different 
meanings,  distinguished  from  one  another  only 

by  a  variation  of  intonation  and  accent.    Gen- 

*  t  i 

ders  are  unknown  in  this  tongue,  nor  is  there 
declension  of  nouns  or  conjugation  of  verbs. 
It  is  said  that  there  is  a  similar  language  to  be 
found  in  the  Soudan,  and  hence  some  maintain 
that  the  Walendu  are  originally  from  the  Sou- 
dan. But  the  lower  jaws  of  these  strange  na- 
tives are  so  prominent  and  protruding  that 
they  could  scarcely  claim  relationship  with 
those  tribes  whose  lower  jaws  are  distinctly 
recessive.  Moreover,  the  Soudanese  are  not 
of  short  stature.  However,  this  is  a  question 
for  an  anthropologist  ofx  authority  to  decide, 
and  I  would  merely  suggest  that  here  is  a  field 
open  for  investigation  for  the  ethnologist  which 
will  reveal  new  and  wonderfully  interesting 
material. 

The  next  tribe  to  the  southwest  of  the 
Walendu  is  another  race  entirely — the  Wan- 
yari,  which  belongs  to  the  Bantu  family,  and 
which  is  again  a  grade  shorter  than  the 
Walendu.  There  are,  therefore,  within  a 


THE  CONGO  223 

radius  of  140  miles,  four  different  tribes,  each 
of  them  decreasing  in  stature  as  they  come 
nearer  to  the  great  forest — the  Walur,  the 
Walendu,  the  Wanyari,  and  finally  the  Mam- 
buti.  The  picture  shows  four  good  types  of 
these  taken  from  a  mixed  congregation  of 
1,200  people  at  the  Mission  of  Kilo.  I  was 
careful  to  include  no  extremes  except  the 
Mambuti,  who  was  the  only  one  there  and 
rather  tall  among  his  tribesmen.  None  of 
these  tribes  is  very  numerous  in  population, 
for  there  are  only  60,000  Walendu  and  12,000 
Wanyari.  In  their  turn  the  Wanyari  are  much 
smaller  than  the  Walendu,  and  they  attain  a 
height  between  the  Walendu  and  the  Pigmies. 
They  are  not  all  of  the  same  stature,  but  their 
average  length  would  probably  be  four  feet 
and  a  half. 

The  strange  feature  is  that  there  is 
quite  a  sprinkling  of  taller  people  among 
them,  and  this  would  logically  suggest  that 
they  are  a  mixture  of  Pigmies  and  Bantu. 
And  yet  this  is  not  in  accordance  with  some 
facts  which  are  known  of  old.  For  instance, 
there  is  a  tradition  which  claims  that  the  Pig- 
mies and  the  Wanyari  traded  with  one  another 
in  a  most  original  fashion.  The  Wanyari 
would  bring  their  products,  such  as  salt, 


224     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

bananas  and  other  commodities,  to  a  certain 
spot  on  a  certain  set  date  of  the  month,  and 
the  Pigmies  would  come  the  day  after  or  dur- 
ing the  night,  when  the  Wanyari  had  retired 
to  their  villages.  The  little  men  then  would 
select  what  they  needed  or  fancied  and  leave 
their  goods,  such  as  ivory  and  forest  products, 
for  the  Wanyari  to  take  away  the  next  day. 
This  would  seem  to  exclude  the  idea  of  inter- 
breeding between  them  in  days  gone  by. 

There  is  another  striking  difference  be- 
tween the  races  on  the  east  shores  of  the  lakes 
and  those  on  the  west.  While  there  is  a  great 
reverence  among  the  peasants  for  the  chiefs 
and  the  kings  even  in  so  sophisticated  a  tribe 
as  the  Baganda,  that  characteristic  is  abso- 
lutely lacking  among  their  western  brother 
tribes.  The  chiefs  of  the  Walur,  the  Walendu 
and  the  Wanyari  have  no  power  whatsoever 
over  their  subjects.  Each  native  seems  to  be 
his  own  chief  here.  Whether  this  is  owing  to 
the  lack  of  government  on  the  part  of  the  Bel- 
gians or  an  ancient  custom  seems  to  be  a 
mooted  question  with  those  who  have  labored 
among  them  for  a  number  of  years.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  the  fact  remains  that  when  the 
white  man  needs  assistance  he  goes  naturally 
to  the  chief.  The  chief,  desirous  of  making  a 


THE  CONGO  225 

good  impression,  does  all  that  he  can  to  exert 
a  certain  amount  of  authority  over  his  subjects, 
but  the  results  are  always  nil,  as  we  have  dis- 
covered again  and  again  when  we  needed  por- 
ters. The  only  man  who  has  any  authority 
over  the  natives  is  the  Padri,  or  "Mopera,"  as 
they  fondly  call  him.  He  wields  his  power  by 
kindness  and  probably  the  medicine  which  he 
provides,  as  well  as  by  the  fact  that  the  native 
recognizes  him  as  his  best  friend.  Whatever 
the  cause,  here  is  a  phenomenon  which  is  worth 
investigating.  "Whether  the  Walendu  chiefs 
ever  had  the  power  over  life  and  death  as  did 
the  Baganda  and  other  kings  and  chiefs,  or 
whether  the  true  patriarchal  or  monarchial 
system  has  never  been  known  here  is  a  ques- 
tion of  great  importance.  The  very  fact  that 
this  is  so  different  from  the  Soudanese  system 
would  argue  that  these  natives  never  came 
from  that  region. 

That,  at  best,  they  are  a  decadent  race  seems 
to  be  certain.  Childbirth  is  fast  decreasing. 
Premature  births  and  the  consequent  deaths 
of  children  are  very  common  and  on  the  in- 
crease. Abortive  births  are  as  high  as  twenty- 
five  per  cent.  Nor  is  this  the  wish  of  the 
mother.  Promiscuity  or  inbreeding  are  not 
the  causes.  To  the  contrary,  no  man  can  take 


226     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

as  bride  a  girl  who  lives  in  the  same  village 
as  he.  This  exclusion  is  so  far-reaching  that 
when  a  girl  lives  in  a  village  where  the  pro- 
spective bridegroom  has  a  relative  the  pro- 
posed match  is  ipso  facto  nullified.  This 
tendency  is  so  pronounced  that  the  clergy  of 
the  Catholic  Church  are  not  at  all  concerned 
about  the  danger  of  consanguinity  for  the  very 
reason  that  the  natives  themselves  have  great 
horror  of  such  unions.  What,  then,  can  be 
the  reason?  Although  the  extinction  of  the 
tribes  would  not  be  a  great  loss  to  civilization 
or  to  the  human  race,  this  is  a  question  well 
worth  studying,  even  if  humanitarian  consid- 
erations were  excluded. 

A  people  of  so  many  vices  and  so  few  virtues 
would  be  no  loss  to  the  world,  but  we  may  learn 
from  them  lessons  which  might  be  applied 
profitably  to  our  own  conditions.  It  is  strange 
to  find  the  same  complaint  here  as  we  found  in 
the  east,  although  there  the  cases  are  more  pro- 
nounced and  easily  traceable.  I  am  told  that 
statistics  even  of  the  Kavirondo,  who  seemed  so 
prolific  a  tribe,  show  that  there  is  a  tremendous 
margin  on  the  wrong  side  between  the  death 
rate  and  the  birth  rate.  Some  tribes  have  only 
themselves  to  blame,  promiscuity  being  the 
great  evil  among  all  of  them.  But  why  should 


THE  CONGO  227 

this  same  condition  exist  where  promiscuity  is 
frowned  upon  and  actually  abstained  from? 
The  Wanyari  have  lost  recently  more  than  800 
through  meningitis,  1,100  through  Spanish  in- 
fluenza, and  700  through  smallpox.  The  Mam- 
buti  were  reduced  by  50  per  cent  through 
influenza. 

There  is  one  other  very  pronounced  fact 
which  stares  one  in  the  face  when  reaching  the 
Congo  and  traveling  through  its  vastnesses. 
The  beginning  of  the  administration  of  the 
Congo  by  the  Belgians  and  that  of  the  British 
in  East  Africa  and  Uganda  is  about  contem- 
poraneous, but  observe  the  difference  in  re- 
sults. Belgium  has  taken  out  treasures  and 
given  nothing  in  return.  England  has  paid 
out  money  and  fortunes  and  is  still  looking 
for  returns;  but  traveling  in  Uganda  and 
British  East  Africa  is  a  pleasure;  in  the  Congo 
it  is  a  hardship.  The  British  government  sta- 
tions, the  roads,  railways,  the  steamers,  the 
opening  of  the  country  to  settlers,  all  indicate 
so  superior  an  administration  that  no  compari- 
son can  be  made.  The  British  seem  to  delight 
in  making  the  countries  under  their  protector- 
ates a  civilized  world  from  the  outset,  whereas 
the  Belgians  do  not  care  so  long  as  there  is  a 
good  margin  of  revenue  to  be  had. 


228     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

The  schools,  soldiers,  police  and  educational 
institutions  of  the  Belgians  are  prominent 
through  their  absence,  except  where  the  mis- 
sionaries have  taken  up  the  work.  The  cloth- 
ing of  their  askaries  (native  soldiers  and 
police),  and  especially  of  the  natives  in  the 
villages,  is  the  best  sign  of  the  total  ab- 
sence of  pride  in  the  tribes  which  they 
govern.  Their  soldiers  are  ragged  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  they  seem  to  be  possessed  of  the 
same  spirit  of  graft  which  their  masters  exhibit 
wherever  and  whenever  they  come  in  contact 
with  a  victim  whom  they  can  hold  up.  For 
example  I  shall  quote  only  a  question  of  ex- 
change. We  had  to  get  francs  because  rupees 
were  not  legal  tender  here.  The  actual  ex- 
change is  seven  francs  for  the  rupee,  when  you 
wish  to  convert  francs  into  rupees,  but  when 
you  wish  to  get  francs  they  offer  you  three 
for  the  rupee.  So  they  have  you  coming  and 
going.  Even  the  Indian  traders  are  not  quite 
such  Shylocks  as  the  government  officials.  I 
had  an  exchange  from  them  at  the  rate  of  four 
francs  to  the  rupee.  It  is  the  same  with  cus- 
toms duty.  Whether  they  delight  in  harass- 
ing the  Americans  or  whether  they  wish  to 
keep  them  out  of  their  country  for  fear  of  un- 
pleasant publicity,  who  shall  say? 


ROYAL  FENCE  AROUND  THE  KING'S   ENCLOSURE 


THE  CONGO  229 

As  I  said  before,  the  Belgian  Government 
works  the  country  for  all  available  resources 
and  gives  nothing  in  return.  For  instance, 
there  are  the  Kilo  gold  mines.  There  are  four 
mining  districts  in  the  Kilo  territory,  and  be- 
tween them  they  produce  something  like 
20,000,000  francs  per  annum.  With  a  little 
more  organization  they  could  treble  the  out- 
put, but  native  labor  is  so  scarce  and  the  natives 
are  so  much  left  to  their  own  devices  that  the 
officials  cannot  get  more  black  labor  to  assist 
them.  Now  in  this  same  territory  the  roads 
are  in  so  abominable  a  condition  that  travel 
is  almost  impossible.  The  roads  cannot  even 
be  utilized  for  a  bicycle;  a  motorcycle  is  en- 
tirely out  of  the  question.  To  make  matters 
even  worse,  the  question  of  exchange  is  not 
at  all  affected  in  this  territory  for  the  reason 
that  gold,  which  was  formerly  worth  three 
francs  and  a  half  the  gram,  commands  now 
more  than  twenty.  It  would  be  imagined  that 
since  gold  has  gone  up  in  price  as  well  as  ex- 
change, the  gold  produced  here  would  be 
utilized  for  the  expansion  of  the  country  or  for 
the  purchase  of  goods  and  necessary  commod- 
ities, but  nothing  of  the  kind  is  happening. 
The  commodities  which  formerly  were  ordered 
from  Nairobi  in  British  East  Africa  are  no 


230     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

longer  ordered  there,  nominally  because  the 
exchange  of  the  rupee  is  too  high.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  such  is  not  the  case.  Their  gold 
is  worth  more  now  at  present  exchange  rates 
than  it  was  in  normal  times,  and  gold  would 
buy  more  now  than  it  did  then.  Do  they  take 
advantage  of  this  for  the  benefit  of  the  coun- 
try? No;  the  gold  is  shipped  home  and  the 
country  is  drained  of  the  necessities  of  life  to 
such  an  extent  that  at  the  time  of  writing  it  is 
impossible  to  buy  sugar,  petrol,  canned  goods 
of  any  description,  cloth,  candles  or  other 
staples.  Even  the  officials  have  to  go  with- 
out all  these  things,  which  are  absolute  neces- 
sities for  the  barest  comfort. 

The  officials  are  paid  at  the  present  rate  of 
exchange  and  the  franc  does  not  buy  them  a 
fourth  of  what  it  did  formerly.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  the  officials  are  hope- 
lessly inefficient.  This  fact  is  so  potent  that 
the  government  cannot  even  induce  Belgians 
to  take  these  posts,  but  employs  all  manner 
of  adventurers  from  other  nations,  such  as 
Greeks  and  Armenians.  That,  of  course,  en- 
tails its  own  drawback  and  diminishes  the  re- 
spect not  only  of  foreigners  but  of*  men  of 
their  own  country,  not  to  mention  that  of  the 
natives. 


THE  CONGO  231 

Officials  whose  names  I  could  mention  admit 
that  merchants  and  heads  of  commercial  houses 
actually  "bum  meals"  from  officials  and  mis- 
sionaries because  they  are  not  allowed  to  im- 
port from  British  East  Africa  and  cannot  get 
any  supplies  from  Stanleyville,  which  is  out 
of  reach — 45  days'  march  from  Kilo.  Officials 
are  the  only  white  men  here  who  have  sufficient, 
and  they  have  no  surplus ;  the  White  Fathers 
grow  their  own  staples  and  are  supplied  from 
the  headquarters  in  Uganda.  We  ourselves 
could  get  no  tea,  no  curry,  no  milk,  no  petrol, 
no  canned  meats,  no  pickles,  or  anything 
needed  for  our  chop  box. 

There  is  yet  another  incongruity  which 
shows  that  they  go  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other.  About  fifteen  years  ago,  1905-1906,  as 
will  be  remembered,  there  was  a  great  outcry 
against  the  Belgian  atrocities  in  England  and 
America.  Unheard  of  cruelties  were  laid  at 
the  door  of  the  Belgians,  and  it  does  not  mat- 
ter whether  or  not  we  took  stock  in  those 
charges  at  the  time.  I,  for  one,  stood  up  for 
them  and  maintained  that  there  were  as  many 
cases  of  mutilation  to  be  found  in  Uganda  as 
there  were  in  the  Congo.  It  was  merely  a 
question  of  the  natives  and  their  old  customs, 
according  to  which  "an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a 


232     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

tooth  for  a  tooth"  was  the  unwritten  law. 
There  was,  of  course,  the  old  tradition  among 
the  natives  that  those  in  authority  had  power 
not  only  over  life  and  death,  but  also  the  right 
to  mutilate — a  common  practice.  The  Bel- 
gians were  no  more  to  be  blamed  for  those 
mutilations  in  the  Congo  than  the  British  were 
for  those  in  Uganda. 

However,  that  is  old  history,  and  I  merely 
repeat  it  here  to  emphasize  my  proposition 
that  the  Belgians  reversed  their  attitude 
completely.  Now  it  is  a  question  of  lax- 
ity and  neglect  rather  than  one  of  harsh- 
ness. The  regulations  for  the  officials  are  such 
at  the  present  writing — 1920 — that  under  no 
circumstances  or  provocation  may  they  use 
the  lash.  Even  to  shoot  a  gun  from  a  distance 
as  a  warning  when  there  is  trouble  is  forbidden 
because  it  means  a  menace  to  the  native.  When 
an  official  slaps  a  native  in  the  face  for  insub- 
ordination or  for  any  other  cause  he  is  sent  to 
jail  for  four  days  and  imprisonment  means 
revocation  of  his  commission  and  dismissal 
from  the  service.  All  of  these  measures  are 
taken  to  pacify  their  critics,  who  assailed  the 
Belgians  on  the  score  of  atrocities  in  former 
days. 

This,   I  maintain,   is   an   absurd   situation 


THE  CONGO  233 

in  which  the  one  extreme  is  worse  than  the 
first,  and  in  which  the  remedy  is  worse  than 
the  disease.  It  shows  a  weakness  in  the  gov- 
ernment which  not  only  works  harm  to  the 
native  but  which  militates  against  any  chances 
of  establishing  good  government  and  order  in 
the  future.  So  marked  is  the  lack  of  govern- 
ment that  the  vices  of  the  natives  will  never 
be  stamped  out  under  the  present  regime. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  cruelty  of  the  Walendu, 
who,  as  I  have  mentioned,  cut  one  another  up 
on  the  slightest  provocation,  or  lack  of  it.  The 
officials  permit  the  natives  to  take  the  law  into 
their  own  hands  and  to  punish  an  innocent 
person,  such  as  the  nearest  relative  or  brother 
of  the  criminal.  This  goes  on  from  year  to 
year  and  the  first  law  of  colonial  government— 
to  improve  native  customs  where  they  are  det- 
rimental— is  obviously  ignored. 

The  improvement  in  the  material  aspect  of 
the  country  suffers  similarly.  There  is  no  law 
or  regulation  to  enforce  labor;  taxes  are  woe- 
fully inadequate ;  education  is  not  even  thought 
of ;  public  work  and  industries,  good  roads,  im- 
provements in  the  form  of  buildings,  agricul- 
ture and  plantations,  transportation  facilities, 
measures  for  the  sanitation  of  the  people, 
formation  of  troops  and  police,  defense  for 


234     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

and  protection  of  the  Europeans,  commercial 
prosperity,  even  the  very  elements  of  civiliza- 
tion, are  suffering.  I  am  speaking  of  the  East- 
ern Congo,  especially  the  Ituria  district.  The 
only  "raison  d'etre'*  for  a  colonial  or  protective 
government  would  be  the  establishment  of 
these  very  essentials,  which  the  officials  over- 
look. To  please  a  critical  public  or  watchful 
foreign  powers  may  be  a  justifiable  desire,  but 
it  is  altogether  out  of -place  to  neglect  govern- 
mental functions  in  order  to  placate  critics. 

If  we  heard  the  reason  for  this  wholesale 
inefficiency,  pronounced  once,  we  heard  it  at 
least  a  hundred  times.     That  is  the  fear  that 
either  England  or  America  was  anxious  to 
seize  the  Congo.    And  it  seemed  futile  to  ar- 
gue, that  we,  in  America,  were  not  condemn- 
ing Belgium  for  the  alleged  outrages  under 
Leopold.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  believe  that 
the  ostensible  explanation  was  merely  a  lame 
excuse  for  the  present  policy  of  listless  "laissez 
faire,"  and  a  poor  apology  for  the  present 
lackadaisical  and  negligent  regime.     The  ex- 
pressions of  suspicion  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment of  Uganda  and  British  East  Africa  and 
the  Anglophobic  fear  that  the  English  are  only 
waiting  to   annex  this   country  are   absurd. 
More  than  once  we  were  asked  whether  the 


THE  CONGO  235 

American  Government  had  no  intentions  of 
taking  over  the  Congo.  And  it  seemed  not 
to  pacify  them  at  all  when  we  asserted  that  the 
United  States  did  not  entertain  any  imperial 
aspirations  whatsoever. 

That  seems  to  be  the  bugbear  and  the 
great  fear  among  all  of  the  officials.  And 
to  a  great  extent  I  believe  that  this  is  at 
the  bottom  of  their  present  policy  of  keep- 
ing down  expenses  and  of  taking  all  out 
of  the  country  without  putting  anything  into 
it.  The  possibilities  are  no  doubt  enormous 
and  if  this  country  were  made  to  yield  accord- 
ing to  its  resources  and  capabilities  by  a  sys- 
tematic process  which  worked  mutually  for  the 
benefit  of  the  governors  and  the  governed, 
there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  this  terri- 
tory would  be  a  winner  in  a  very  short  time,  a 
land  able  to  show  a  profit  that  might  even  help 
to  pay  off  Belgium's  national,  debt.  But  to 
take  all  and  return  nothing  is  a  policy  that  will 
antagonize  other  nations,  and  if  the  Belgians 
cannot  be  induced  to  mend  matters  the  Congo 
should  be  taken  out  of  their  hands  or  a  trus- 
tee appointed  to  see  that  they  administer  it 
properly. 

How  often  did  we  say  to  one  another  that 
if  the  United  States  had  this  country  what 


236     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

a  vast  difference  it  would  make  in  a  very  short 
time.  Turn  loose  a  few  American  engineers 
in  these  vastnesses  and  the  railroads  would  be 
carrying  ivory,  gold,  rubber  and  coffee  in  such 
quantities  as  to  flood  the  markets  of  the  world, 
and  American  prosperity  would  make  the  Con- 
golese smile  from  ear  to  ear  as  well  as  make 
them  a  happy  people  instead  of  the  stooping, 
resentful  and  totally  uncivilized  and  ragged 
"niggers"  that  they  are  now. 

I  am  told  that  the  epidemics  in  this  country 
are  worse  than  in  any  other  known  native  dis- 
trict. One  seems  to  follow  the  other.  Small- 
pox, sleeping  sickness,  plague,  cholera,  menin- 
gitis and  famine  follow  each  other  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, and  now  a  new  disease  has  broken  out 
to  which  no  name  has  yet  been  given.  I  was 
told  by  the  official  of  Djugu  that  he  had  found 
that  a  whole  village  had  died  of  a  complaint, 
the  symptoms  of  which  were  a  continual  hem- 
orrhage from  the  lungs  for  two  days,  followed 
quickly  by  death.  Not  a  patient  recovered 
after  the  first  hemorrhage  had  seized  him,  and 
of  a  village  of  more  than  200  people  there  is  not 
one  survivor.  So  far  it  has  not  spread  to  any 
other  village,  but  a  report  had  been  sent  to 
the  District  Medical  Officer. 

The  Pigmies,  or  Mambuti,  as  they  call  them- 


••• 

m 
* 


A  MAMBUTI   (PIGMY)   ARCHER 


THE  CONGO  237 

selves,  and  as  the  other  native  tribes  in  the 
Congo  call  them,  claim  to  be  the  oldest  race 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Congo.  Originally 
they  had  a  free  hand  in  this  country  and 
roamed  about  as  they  pleased,  occupying  a 
stretch  of  open  land  now  and  then,  or  retiring 
to  the  forest,  as  the  spirit  moved  them.  They 
resented  the  settlement  of  the  Wanyari  in  their 
territory  to  such  an  extent  that  even  now  they 
kill  the  Wanyari  whenever  they  feel  so  inclined 
if  intruders  dare  to  enter  the  domains  of  the 
Pigmy  forest.  This  they  do  only  by  sniping, 
because  they  dare  not  fight  their  foe  in  the 
open,  where  they  know  that  they  would  not  be 
the  equal  to  the  Wanyari.  They  lie  in  wait  for 
them  in  the  forest,  and  from  ambush  it  is  an 
easy  matter,  comparatively,  to  land  one  of 
their  poisoned  arrows  in  the  anatomy  of  their 
hated  enemies. 

At  present,  however,  the  Pigmies  are 
not,  as  a  race,  quite  so  hostile  to  the 
Wanyari.  They  have  taken  their  ejection 
philosophically  for  the  past  half  century,  and 
now  they  not  only  look  upon  the  Wanyari  as 
a  race  of  conquerors,  but  almost  as  friends  in 
general.  But  they  do  not  soon  forget  a  per- 
sonal slight  or  injustice;  hence  occasional 
vendettas.  The  Wanyari  on  their  side  do  not 


238    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

•  f\ ,, 

make  such  cases  of  revenge  a  "casus  belli," 
well  knowing  that  it  would  be  futile  for  them 
to  pursue  the  Pigmies  into  their  native  haunts, 
the  forest.  There  the  Pigmies  are  monarchs 
of  all  they  survey,  and  they  can  live  in  the 
forest  until  further  orders;  indeed,  it  is  their 
instinct. 

They  live  as  close  to  the  monkey  as  it 
is  possible  for  human  beings  to  do.  They 
eat  the  produce  of  the  forest;  they  shelter 
under  trees  and  boughs;  they  make  huts  of 
the  twigs  and  leaves  of  the  forest;  they  need 
no  open  space  or  sunshine;  and  they  are  as 
happy  without  cover  or  shelter  as  they  are 
under  it. 

Who  shall  dare  to  attempt  to  give  a  history 
of  their  origin  or  even  a  reason  for  their  under- 
sized stature?  Theories  have  been  advanced 
by  the  dozens,  and  although  they  doubtless 
have  a  certain  amount  of  foundation  on  scien- 
tific and  physical  grounds,  other  peoples  have 
lived  under  the  same  conditions  and  thrived. 
Consider,  for  instance,  the  Algonquins  and  the 
Mohawks  in  the  vast  forests  of  North  America. 
They  lived  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  forests, 
they  hunted  under  the  branches  of  the  trees, 
hid  for  protection,  shrunk  to  shield  themselves 
against  the  low-hanging  boughs  and  foliage  of 


THE  CONGO  239 

the  ubiquitous  forest  growth.  They  avoided 
the  saplings  which  seem  to  affect  their  muscles 
and  nerves.  They  rarely  saw  the  sun  and  felt 
as  much  at  home  sleeping  on  the  pine  needles 
as  do  the  Pigmies  on  and  under  the  leaves. 

The  French  Canadian  is  one  of  the  giant 
specimens  of  the  extreme  north  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent.  True,  he  lives  in  a  different  and 
colder  climate,  while  the  Pigmy  lives  on  the 
Equator.  But  nevertheless  an  analogy  refutes 
the  idea  that  it  is  the  darkness  of  the  forest 
and  the  continual  bowing  under  the  branches 
of  the  trees  that  makes  them  what  they  are — 
the  smallest  race  of  the  human  family.  , 

Lack  of  sunlight  and  prowling  about  in  a 
stooping  position  are  the  most  forceful  argu- 
ment for  their  size,  in  my  estimation.  Food 
conditions  are  another;  but  there  are  other 
races  who  are  principally  vegetarians  and  one 
could  scarcely  call  the  Pigmies  vegetarians 
pure  and  simple.  They  live  by  their  arrows 
as  well  as  by  the  fruits  of  trees  and  roots. 
There  would,  therefore,  be  more  reason  for  the 
Indians  in  Asiatic  countries  to  be  diminutive 
in  size  than  for  the  Pigmies. 

Another  favorite  theory  of  mine  was  ex- 
ploded with  an  equally  loud  detonation.  I 
had  always  advanced  the  hypothesis  that  the 


240     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

negroes  were  black  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
unmerciful  sun  which  shone  upon  them  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave.  But  although  the 
Pigmy  is  somewhat  lighter  of  complexion  than 
the  negro,  there  are  more  black  Pigmies  than 
there  are  yellow.  And,  strange  to  say,  the 
light  color  seems  to  run  more  among  the 
women  than  the  men,  although  I  have  not  seen 
enough  of  them  to  postulate  this  as  a  fact.  In 
the  two  villages  which  we  entered  we  saw  sixty- 
five  in  all,  but  they  were  the  average  Pigmy, 
and  some  of  them  true  types  and  small  enough, 
as  can  be  seen  by  the  pictures  we  took  of  them. 
Even  the  lighter  complexioned  ones  among 
them  are  dark  enough  to  be  classed  among  the 
negroes,  if  color  were  the  criterion.  Here, 
then,  goes  my  favorite  notion  that  eternal  sun- 
shine makes  negroes  black,  because  the  Pigmies 
can  under  no  stretch  of  imagination  be  said  to 
be  living  under  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

There  is  very  little  to  say  about  the  Pigmies, 
and  although  they  are,  as  it  were,  a  freak  of 
nature  and  draw  the  attention  of  the  world 
by  their  low  stature  they  are  disappointing 
when  one  has  taken  the  trouble  to  march  200 
miles  to  see  them.  They  are  clannish  and  live 
among  themselves  without  caring  to  mingle 
with  the  rest  of  mankind.  Even  those  who 


THE  CONGO  241 

live  on  the  fringes  of  the  great  Congo  forest 
mix  very  little  with  the  tribes  immediately 
surrounding  them.  Some  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Wanyari  have,  so  to  speak,  adopted  them,  and 
they  are  welcome  in  Wanyari  villages,  but 
even  here  the  Mambuti  prefer  to  have  their 
own  villages  in  the  neighboring  forest  and 
emerge  only  occasionally  to  obtain  a  square 
meal  and  they  return  to  their  haunts  as  soon 
as  possible. 

NOT  have  they  their  fixed  abodes.  They 
never  linger  longer  than  a  fortnight  in 
their  villages,  which  are  as  diminutive  as  their 
bodies.  They  cut  a  few  branches,  bend  them 
with  both  ends  in  the  soil  and  gather  enough 
leaves  to  secure  a  cover  without  bothering 
about  protection  against  the  rains  or  leaks. 
There  is  no  particular  shape  or  architecture 
which  they  follow,  and  they  seem  satisfied  to 
have  their  huts  oval  or  in  the  form  of  a  bread 
loaf  or  beehive. 

As  with  the  Masai,  the  women  do  the 
construction  and  the  men  do  not  lift  a 
hand  to  aid  them.  The  women  select  the 
boughs  and  collect  the  leaves  for  the  awnings. 
It  takes  very  little  time,  as  the  material  is  right 
at  hand  wherever  they  go.  They  live  there  for 
only  two  weeks  at  the  longest — then  they  move 


242     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

again  to  more  productive  regions,  because  they 
do  not  care  to  go  far  for  a  livelihood,  and  nat- 
urally the  birds  of  the  forest  are  soon  scared 
away  by  their  arrows  and  the  eatable  roots  and 
fruits  of  the  trees  are  soon  exhausted.  The 
small  game  are  driven  out  by  their  arrival  and 
there  remains  little  to  eat;  consequently  the 
Pigmies  also  move  away  from  so  inhospitable 
a  place. 

There  is  another  reason  for  which  they  leave 
a  location,  and  that  is  the  killing  of  a  Wanyari 
or  other  tribesman.  Then  they  move  fast  and 
farther  for  fear  of  being  caught.  They  leave 
few  or  no  trails,  because  they  are  so  small  and 
light  and  used  to  travel  in  the  forest  that  they 
scarcely  leave  a  footprint.  They  have  no  bag- 
gage to  remove  and  they  never  have  any  set 
trails  on  which  they  go  about.  The  principle 
of  the  line  of  least  resistance  is  understood 
better  by  this  little  gentry  than  by  any  other 
set  of  men,  because  they  circle  around  a  thickly 
brushed  area  to  gain  a  few  feet  on  their  way. 
They  naturally  avoid  swamps  and  rivers  in  the 
forest  because  they  could  not  wade  in  deeply, 
and  wherever  necessary  they  jump  from  clus- 
ter to  cluster  of  papyrus  or  other  swamp 
vegetation. 

When    pursued    by    an    animal    which    is 


o 


01 

a. 

z 

<  t: 

u.2 

P 


o 

- 


TWO  EMBU  BELLES 
Notice   similarity   to   the   Wakikuyu   girls 


THE  CONGO  243 

too  large  for  their  arrow  and  too  dangerously 
quick  on  its  feet,  they  climb  a  tree  and  follow 
the  principle  of  "watchful  waiting,"  although 
they  have  never  even  heard  of  the  existence 
of  the  author  of  the  expression.  This  is  a 
favorite  ruse  when  they  happen  on  the  trail 
of  an  elephant.  When  this  occurs,  the  whole 
tribe  moves  and  follows  its  scouts  for  days  and 
days.  They  pepper  the  big  brute  with  their 
arrows  and  put  their  spears  in  the  branches 
of  the  trees  so  they  will  pierce  the  back  of  the 
huge  prey  until  it  finally  is  exhausted  or  dies 
of  loss  of  blood.  In  this  case  they  call  in  the 
neighboring  Pigmy  settlements,  and  when 
finally  the  trunked  mass  falls  down,  they  climb 
on  top  of  it  in  swarms  like  ants  over  a  bug. 
Such  a  day  is  a  red  letter  day  for  the  little 
men  and  they  feast  on  the  elephant  carcass  for 
weeks.  They  usually  point  out  the  tusks  to  a 
friendly  Wanyari  chief  in  their  neighborhood, 
who  sells  them  for  the  Pigmies  at  the  best 
price  offered.  They  naturally  do  not  ask  for 
the  value  in  money,  because  they  would  not 
know  what  to  do  with  coin,  but  they  sell  it  for 
salt  and  tobacco  and  some  arrowheads  or 
spears  included  in  the  bargain.  It  is  particu- 
larly puzzling  how  they  can  kill  so  large  an 
animal  with  their  little  arrows  and  with  their 


244     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

little  bows.  These  articles  of  defense  and  at- 
tack look  more  like  the  toys  of  our  children 
than  like  the  formidable  weapons  which  they 
are  in  the  hands  of  these  miniature  men.  Their 
spears  also  are  in  proportion  to  their  size,  and 
there  are  few  of  these. 

Withal,  it  is  a  mystery  to  me  how  they  can 
live  except,  as  one  official  explained  it,  that 
they  are  the  nearest  expressions  of  humans 
living  reduced  to  the  fundamental  require- 
ments of  life's  sustenance.  They  do,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  live  little  beyond  or  above  the 
monkeys. 

The  Pigmies  are  a  Nuba  race,  or,  as  some 
define  them,  of  the  Bushman  genus.  They 
have  probably  preserved  their  national  customs 
better  than  any  other  race  because  they  have 
so  few,  and  because  of  their  size  they  have 
little  or  no  opportunity  to  intermarry  and  to 
ally  themselves  with  other  races.  The  strangest 
feature  about  them  is  that  they  are  monoga- 
mous. There  is  little  danger  of  inbreeding,  be- 
cause every  one  knows  who  is  who,  and  why. 
Consequently  there  is  no  degeneration  of  the 
breed  and  monogamy  reduces  venereal  disease 
to  a  minimum.  At  present  there  is  a  slight 
tendency  for  them  to  consort  with  the  Wanyari 
because  the  extremes  of  the  two  races  are  close 


THE  CONGO  245 

together,  so  far  as  size  is  concerned ;  the  short- 
est specimens  of  the  Wanyari  being  approxi- 
mately of  the  same  height  as  the  tallest  of  the 
Pigmies.  But  even  here  there  are  very  few 
cases  of  close  alliances. 

The  odd  part  of  it  is  that  in  such  cases  the 
Mambuti,  or  Pigmy,  women  discard  their  na- 
tive objections  to  competitors  in  the  affections 
of  their  spouses.  They  are  glad  to  become 
number  two  or  even  the  third  factor  in  the 
husband's  connubial  establishment.  Those 
whom  I  have  seen  seemed  to  be  glad  to  get 
away  from  the  forest  and  to  enjoy  God's  own 
sunshine.  And  so,  at  least  for  that  one  day, 
did  the  population  of  a  whole  village  whicli 
we  took  out  of  their  native  surroundings  in 
order  more  easily  to  take  pictures  of  them, 
which  was  a  hopeless  case  in  their  own  environ- 
ments. They  all  seemed  to  enjoy  the  sun,  and 
they  danced  in  it  to  their  hearts'  content  until 
the  perspiration  was  gushing  down  their  little 
limbs. 

Why,  one  asks,  do  they  not  escape  their  cap- 
tivity in  the  forest?  That  is  a  hard  question 
to  answer.  It  may  be  on  account  of  their  in- 
nate objection  to  work.  They  live  like  the 
creeping  things  in  the  woods.  They  neither 
sow  nor  harvest.  There  was  not  a  hoe  to  be 


246     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

found  in  the  possession  of  any  native  of  the 
two  villages  we  encountered.  Theirs  are  not 
the  worries  of  trades  or  industry.  No  agri- 
cultural instincts  are  to  be  found  in  their  little 
souls.  Solomon's  glory  of  wealth  and  raiment 
has  no  attraction  for  them,  and  their  babies  are 
well  cared  for  when  they  have  forest  leaves  or 
sometimes  a  soft  and  shady  banana  leaf  to 
cover  them  from  exposure  to  the  elements. 
What  more  would  they  want?  Even  the  lat- 
ter luxuries  are  borrowed  from  their  more 
fortunate  brethren  of  the  surrounding  villages 
of  the  Wanyari. 

Whenever  we  saw  them  dance  their  primitive 
passes  they  seemed  to  be  a  supremely  happy 
crowd.  The  songs  accompanying  their  dance 
were  a  monotonous  yodel  without  any  words — 
mere  sounds.  The  women  yodeled  the  chorus 
while  the  men  sang  the  drone.  What  they 
seemed  to  enjoy  especially  was  the  open  space 
in  the  village,  where  they  were  the  guests  of 
the  chief;  it  was  so  smooth  to  dance  on  and  so 
wide — and  they  were  used  only  to  a  narrow, 
rough  space  between  their  little  huts.  The 
women  ran  around  making  all  sorts  of  grim- 
aces. They  were  drunk  with  delight;  they 
swayed  from  side  to  side  with  fatigue  un- 
til they  were  ready  to  drop  from  sheer  ex- 


THE  CONGO  247 

haustion.  Children  around  the  Maypole  never 
had  a  better  time;  even  women  with  children 
at  their  breasts  joined  in  the  great  hilarity. 

And  what  was  the  reason  of  it  all?  Merely 
the  prospect  of  getting  a  little  salt.  Once  we 
had  assured  them  of  their  safety  through  the 
presence  of  the  White  Father  in  charge  of 
the  nearest  Catholic  mission,  we  could  do  with 
them  as  we  pleased.  They  knew  he  was  their 
friend,  and  the  chief  of  the  village  vouched  for 
our  harmless  intentions:  that  was  enough  for 
them  and  they  threw  themselves  wholly  into 
the  spirit  of  the  occasion.  We  photographed 
them  to  our  hearts'  content  and  they  were  more 
docile  than  any  of  the  tribes  we  had  taken  so 
far.  It  was  a  red  letter  day  for  them,  what 
with  all  the  bananas  and  vegetables  from  the 
Wanyari  gardens  and  the  salt  and  the  tobacco. 
We  offered  meat  and  fowls,  but  they  refused, 
because  they  must  eat  no  meat  which  is  not 
killed  by  their  own  hands  in  the  forest.  That 
seemed  to  be  their  taboo. 

Now  why  was  it  that  everybody,  even  to 
the  last  party  we  met  on  the  road  in  search  of 
them,  discouraged  us  by  telling  us  that  we 
would  not  find  any  Mambuti,  and  that  even  if 
we  did  find  them  they  would  run  away  from 
us  on  account  of  their  great  timidity?  I  dis- 


248     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

like  to  draw  conclusions,  but  the  fact  that  the 
good  priest  who  sponsored  us  drew  them,  out 
in  great  numbers  and  made  them  feel  so  happy 
speaks  volumes  as  against  all  the  warnings,  of 
officials  and  merchants  alike,  that  we  should 
fail  in  our  mission. 

What  struck  me  as  very  strange  in  these 
Mambuti  is  the  fact  that  notwithstanding  their 
savage  surroundings  and  the  extremely  low 
ebb  of  their  mentality  and  culture  that  they 
should  have  a  faith  in  one  Supreme  Being  and 
in   a   celestial  reward   after   death.      Father 
Buyck,  who  took  the  opportunity  to  give  them 
a  religious  instruction  in  the  Wanyari  lan- 
guage, asked  them  this  question :  In  how  many 
gods  did  they  believe?    And  those  who  under- 
stood the  question  answered  with  one  finger 
pointing  to  heaven.     They  also  pointed  to 
heaven  when  they  were  asked  about  the  here- 
after.   The  little  woman  who  acted  as  inter- 
preter put  the  question  to  the  community  and 
several  put  up  their  hands  toward  the  sky  and 
at  the  same  time  turned  their  fingers  down  to 
the  ground  to  express  their  belief  that  at  death 
part  goes  up  to  the  sky  and  part  down  to  earth, 
which  on  further  investigation  was  explained 
by  the  little  woman  as  a  knowledge  of  the  com- 


AMONG  THE   PIGMIES 

Two  grizzly  old  Aiambuti   (Pigmy)    hunters 

Three  Mambuti    (Pigmy)    males  of  the  younger  set 


THE  CONGO  249 

posite  make-up  of  the  human  being  of  soul 
and  body.  This  she  further  emphasized  by 
mentioning  the  haunting  ghosts  of  the  forest. 
At  the  mention  of  this  fact,  which  for  further 
information  she  put  up  to  the  little  men,  they 
nodded  as  if  in  confirmation  of  what  she  had 
explained  to  Father  Buyck  in  the  Wanyari 
language.  They  looked  at  the  good  priest  with 
a  sly  fear  in  their  eyes,  as  if  he  might  have  the 
power  of  communication  with  these  spirits. 
This  happened  at  the  Zabu  village,  where  we 
found  26  Mambuti.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  we  had  a  little  stray  Mambuti  woman 
who  had  married  a  Munyari  as  an  inter- 
preter. She  had  lived  among  the  Wanyari 
so  long  that  she  may  be  considered  to  have 
been  under  the  influence  of  the  Wanyari  par- 
tial acceptance  of  Christianity,  especially  be- 
cause Zabu  himself  was  a  Catholic.  This 
became  all  the  more  apparent  when  we  made 
the  same  investigation  in  the  next  village, 
where  the  result  of  our  researches  were  totally 
different. 

In  the  next  village,  where  there  was  a 
gathering  of  over  forty  Mambuti,  the 
question  of  their  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being 
was  met  with  a  total  blank  stare,  as  if 


250    THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

they  did  not  understand  what  was  being  talked 
about.  And  since  I  was  particularly  anxious 
to  have  this  question  decided,  the  question  was 
put  again  and  again  in  different  forms,  but 
the  blank  stare  was  as  often  repeated.  The 
little  woman  put  up  her  hand  toward  the  sky, 
but  there  was  no  indication  that  the  others 
agreed  with  her  when  they  were  consulted.  So 
evidently  the  little  woman  in  her  dealings  with 
the  Wanyari,  one  of  whom  she  had  married, 
learned  of  the  teachings  of  the  White  Father 
and  anxious  to  please  him  indicated  her  knowl- 
edge rather  than  that  of  the  Mambuti  as  a 
tribe.  These  answers  and  their  monogamous 
habits  would  indicate  that  they  have  not  been 
in  contact  with  earlier  civilization  or  with  other 
African  tribes,  most  of  which  have  some  idea 
about  a  Supreme  Being. 

What  struck  me  most  forcibly  was  that  they 
are  not  void  of  an  ethical  and  moral  code.  In- 
deed, the  contrast  of  their  ideas  of  morality 
with  those  of  other  African  tribes  is  so  great 
as  to  be  astounding.  It  has  for  some  time 
been  a  conviction  with  me  that  among  most  of 
the  African  tribes,  especially  those  with  which 
I  have  come  in  contact,  there  is  almost  a 
complete  absence  of  morality.  Homicide, 
adultery,  theft  and  falsehood,  which  are  the 


THE  CONGO  251 

basic  vices  contrary  to  the  commands  of  the 
Decalogue,  are  considered  by  most  of  the  tribes 
as  fundamentally  opposed  to  the  laws  of  na- 
ture in  theory.  Tribal  laws  and  customs  pro- 
vide for  transgressions  in  a  half-hearted  man- 
ner. But  the  observance  of  such  laws  are  coun- 
teracted by  a  strong  and  almost  general  incli- 
nation to  opportunism  in  practice.  It  is  an 
almost  general  conviction  among  Europeans 
of  long  experience  among  the  tribes  of  British 
East  Africa  and  Uganda  that  to  "lie  and 
steal"  are  a  second  nature  to  the  natives,  one, 
indeed,  in  which  they  take  a  certain  pride.  To 
commit  adultery  and  to  kill  is  considered  un- 
lawful; they  nevertheless  feel  no  qualms  of 
conscience  about  such  acts.  Only  exteriorly 
they  are  more  careful  to  conceal  such  facts 
for  fear  of  reprisal  or  punishment.  They  do 
not  boast  of  such  acts  among  themselves  as 
they  do  about  falsehoods  and  theft,  but  as  a 
matter  of  conscience  they  do  not  worry  about 
them. 

The  sense  of  morality  is  stunted,  warped  or 
whitewashed,  if  not  totally  absent,  whatever 
one  may  call  the  phenomenon.  It  borders  on 
unmorality  rather  than  immorality.  The  con- 
scious admission  of  having  done  a  wrong  act 
is  lacking  in  their  mental  attitude  toward  such 


252     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

acts.  Referring  back  to  the  chapter  on 
Kikuyu,  the  natives  of  that  tribe,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  advanced  in  the  order  of  native 
philosophy,  refer  to  adultery  as  "stealing," 
whilst  the  man  who  has  killed  an  adversary  is 
looked  upon  as  a  hero  at  a  public  dance. 
Among  other  tribes  the  latter  two  breaches 
of  the  two  first  conclusions  of  the  natural  law, 
homicide  and  adultery,  are  winked  at.  Among 
the  Luo  or  Kavirondo  adultery  is  looked  upon 
with  dismay,  but  rather  from  a  commercial 
standpoint  than  a  moral  one,  because  "dam- 
aged goods"  do  not  fetch  the  standard  price 
on  the  matrimonial  market.  And  by  the  same 
token,  a  murderer  becomes  almost  a  witch 
whom  all  fear  and  admire  and  make  the  recipi- 
ent of  gifts  and  offerings. 

For  this  reason  I  was,  to  say  the  least,  sur- 
prised to  find  the  Mambuti  imbued  with  such 
high  moral  instincts.  Stealing  is  so  foreign  to 
their  habits  that  the  Wanyari  chiefs  give  them 
their  goats  and  sheep  to  mind  whenever  a  tribe 
lingers  for  any  length  of  time  in  the  same  local- 
ity. This  they  do  because  they  can  rest  more 
easily  having  their  flocks  in  the  hands  of  the 
Mambuti  than  in  the  hands  of  men  of  their 
own  villages.  Adultery  seems  to  be  almost  un- 


THE  CONGO  253 

heard  of  among  them.  That  they  do  not  in- 
dulge in  excesses  we  found  out  when  they 
received  tobacco  and  native  banana  beer  from 
the  chief.  They  drank  the  beer  in  moderate 
quantities  and  they  smoked  of  the  tobacco  very 
frugally. 

Their  temperance  habits  were  emphasized 
when  we  asked  the  leader  of  the  little  dwarfs 
to  pose  before  us  smoking  with  his  pals.  He 
did  so,  and  at  the  second  draft  which  he  took 
at  the  pipe,  which  was  as  big  as  himself,  he 
turned  over  and  became  fearfully  sick,  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  perspiration  gushed  down 
his  wrinkled  little  skin.  He  was  counted  out 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.  That  experience  also 
showed  us  another  trait  in  their  character- 
that  they  are  very  sympathetic  with  one  an- 
other. As  soon  as  the  little  man  showed  a 
sign  of  sickness  his  friends  took  him  out  of 
the  sun  and  laid  him  in  a  shaded  hut  without 
walls  so  that  he  was  out  of  the  sunshine  and 
yet  exposed  to  the  open  air.  A  little  woman, 
who  evidently  was  his  wife,  ran  for  water  and 
plied  him  with  plenty  of  it,  both  for  drinking 
and  bathing  purposes.  And  when  we  came  to 
the  distribution  of  salt  they  took  me  down  to 
the  little  invalid  and  motioned  to  me  not  to 


2.54     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

forget  the  tiny  smoker.    I  was  so  gratified  with 
the  attention  that  I  gave  him  a  double  dose. 

Their  manners  are  very  gentle  and  they  have 
a  sense  of  delicacy.  I  am  told  also  that  they 
do  not  kill  among  themselves,  and  my  informa- 
tion went  so  far  as  to  state  that  the  oldest 
Mambuti  of  the  two  villages  with  which  I  came 
in  contact  had  never  known  of  such  an  act  be- 
ing committed  among  themselves.  It  is  true 
that  a  couple  of  Wanyari  had  become  the  vic- 
tims of  their  poisoned  arrows,  but  they  were 
explained  as  cases  of  warfare  rather  than  homi- 
cides, because  they  had  intruded  into  the  forest 
which  the  dwarfs  consider  their  inviolable  do- 
main. In  cases  where  one  Mambuti  had 
wounded  another  with  a  poisoned  arrow  they 
had  always  applied  an  antidote  in  the  making 
of  which  they  are  experts. 

Their  dietetic  habits  have  been  alluded  to  in 
passing,  but  it  would  not  be  out  of  place  to  con- 
sider them  at  somewhat  greater  length.  They 
live  on  anything  and  everything  that  the  forest 
produces  and  which  is  fit  for  human  digestion. 
Their  digestive  organs  seemed  to  be  developed 
a  great  deal  better  than  ours,  for  they  live  on 
roots  which  would  give  us  dyspepsia  for  life. 
I  always  thought  that  the  African  native 
showed  a  wonderful  digestive  system  by  relish- 


THE  CONGO  255 

ing  the  raw  mohogo  or  manioc  root,  but  to  see 
the  Mambuti  eat  and  gnaw  away  at  roots  of 
the  regular  forest  tree,  the  name  of  which  is 
unknown  to  me,  but  which  seemed  a  very  com- 
mon species,  threw  the  Wakavirondo  and  all 
other  husky  tribes  into  the  shadow.  Nuts  and 
wild  fruit  in  season  are,  of  course,  their  stock 
in  trade,  and  they  will  migrate  every  now  and 
again  to  a  district  where  they  know  such  fruit 
or  nuts  to  be  plentiful  at  the  time.  Young 
ancl  tender  shoots  and  "radices"  are  a  delicacy. 
Fruits,  potatoes,  vegetables,  etc.,  are  indulged 
in  only  when  they  are  the  guests  of  the  Wan- 
yari  chiefs,  because  they  do  not  cultivate  fruits 
or  vegetables  of  any  kind  themselves.  They 
have  certain  herbs  which  they  use  for  medicine 
and  they  are  better  connoisseurs  of  the  various 
kinds  than  an  educated  botanist.  As  for  meat, 
they  eat  only  that  which  the  forest  supplies 
and  which  is  killed  by  themselves  or  at  the 
killing  of  which  they  have  assisted  and  shared 
in  tracking.  Birds  and  small  game  are  staples, 
with  delicacies  thrown  in,  such  as  elephants, 
rats,  ants  and  caterpillars.  They  eat  rodents 
of  all  kinds,  and  of  these  there  are  many.  The 
rodents'  name  is  legion.  I  might  add  that  some 
rodents  called  Sibili  gnaw  at  an  elephant  tusk. 
I  noted  this  habit  when  a  tusk  was  shown  me, 


256     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

the  pointed  extreme  end  of  which  was  eaten 
away  by  rodents  whose  teeth  marks  were  vis- 
ible on  the  tusk. 

A  very  curious  trait  of  the  Mambuti  is  their 
courage  in  the  hunting  field.  It  sounds  para- 
doxical that  the  smallest  people  known  in  the 
human  family  should  have  a  special  predilec- 
tion in  hunting  down  the  largest  type  of  ani- 
mal life.  I  shall  only  mention  their  hunting 
methods  on  gazelle  in  passing,  because  as  a 
forest  race  it  is  quite  natural  that  they  should 
indulge  in  trapping  whatever  is  plentiful  and 
secures  a  good  supply  of  meat.  Having  no 
cord  or  rope,  they  make  their  traps  and  nets 
of  vines  and  creepers  in  the  form  of  very  coarse 
and  irregular  meshes.  They  place  the  traps  in 
undergrowth  and  bushes  almost  invisible  to 
the  watchful  gazelle,  and  having  trapped  one 
they  kill  it  with  their  arrows. 

But  what  is  a  phenomenal  feature  in  their 
hunting  methods  is  the  long  enduring  patience 
which  they  exhibit  in  going  after  elephants, 
which,  needless  to  say,  only  happens  once  in 
a  blue  moon. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  they  are  clever 
trackers,  and  whenever  they  find  a  trail  of  a 
big  tusker  they  follow  it  up  and  the  full  quota 
of  available  hunters  is  called  upon  to  assist. 


FATHER,  MOTHER  AND  GODFATHER 

Dr.  Vanden  Bergh  and  the  shortest  Mambuti    (Pigmy)    family  in 

the  village.     The  husband  is  four  feet  four  inches  tall,  the  wife 

is  three  feet  eleven  inches 


WOMAN    CARRYING    HER    YEAR'S   RESULT   OF 
COPRA   ROPE   MAKING   TO  THE   MARKET 


THE  CONGO  257 

Once  they  have  met  up  with  the  elephant  they 
begin  to  pepper  him  from  all  directions  from 
the  ground  and  from  the  heights  of  trees  out 
of  reach  of  the  long  trunk.  Their  agility  in 
the  forest  enables  them  to  move  quicker  than 
the  unwieldy  mammoth.  They  know  which 
way  he  will  turn,  being  guided  by  the  con- 
venient openings  in  the  thick  arborage  which 
their  colossal  prey  naturally  would  look  for. 

One  party  keeps  up  the  fight  with  arrows 
whilst  another  detachment  plants  the  available 
spears  overhead  in  the  branches  forming  a  nat- 
ural arch  under  which  the  pursued  animal  is 
likely  to  pass.  The  spears  are  fixed  head  down 
with  the  intention  to  lodge  near  the  shoulders, 
where  they  will  do  most  harm  near  the  heart. 
Once  the  spear  sticks  its  point  is  driven  farther 
into  the  huge  body  until  it  sometimes  reaches  a 
vital  spot.  I  am  told  that  they  also  use  pois- 
oned arrows  which  will  kill  the  elephant  with- 
out affecting  the  meat  for  consumption. 

They  stay  with  their  victim  for  weeks,  until 
finally  the  great  monster  collapses  through  ex- 
haustion or  owing  to  a  fatal  wound.  Once  he 
is  down  they  finish  him  in  short  order  and  call 
the  balance  of  the  tribe  together  for  the  big 
barbecue.  They  feast  on  its  carcass,  climbing 
all  over  him  like  a  swarm  of  ants,  tearing  away 


258     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

at  the  best  parts  of  the  meat  in  great  glee  until 
there  is  little  left  of  the  mountain  of  viands. 

The  tusks  are  hidden  until  they  can  dispose 
of  them  to  the  Wanyari  or  Walendu  chiefs, 
who  pay  them  in  arrows,  spears,  salt  and  to- 
bacco.    I  have  an  idea  that  these  sly  gentry, 
who  make  enormous  profits  on  the  transaction, 
keep  the  Mambuti  away  from  contact  with 
white  men,  Indians  and  Arab  traders  because 
the  source  of  profit  is  too  tempting  to  have  it 
exposed  to  a  direct  and  open  market.     For 
this  reason  they  tell  the  Mambuti  that  the 
white  man  is  very  dangerous  to  meet,  whilst 
they  hold  off  the  white  man  by  maintaining 
that  the  Mambuti  are  so  timid  that  they  plunge 
deeper   into  the  recesses   of  the  vast  forest 
whenever  a  white  man  is  in  the  neighborhood. 
In  fact,  I   entertained  a  Belgian  trader  in 
Zabu's  village  who  had  been  in  the  district  for 
a  number  of  years  and  had  only  seen  two 
Mambuti  on  the  road,  who  immediately  dived 
into  the  forest  when  they  saw  him.    Zabu,  the 
chief,  also  treated  the  trader  with  scant  cour- 
tesy and  looked  suspicious  when  he  found  the 
man  sitting  at  our  table.     He  evidently  was 
afraid  that  we  might  introduce  him  to  the 
Mambuti. 


THE  CONGO  259 

The  Mambuti,  although  they  are  very  small 
in  size,  are  very  well  proportioned  and  physi- 
cally very  fit.  Whereas  they  lack  the  avoirdu- 
pois of  the  larger  negro  and  the  brute  strength 
of  their  better  developed  brothers,  their  en- 
durance and  muscular  development  are  re- 
markable. I  have  seen  women  of  one  meter 
and  twenty  centimeters  carry  away  a  bunch 
of  bananas  which  almost  reached  the  ground, 
suspended  from  their  heads  with  a  leather 
strap.  The  men  seemed  to  lift  one  another 
with  perfect  ease,  as  a  wrestler  might.  To 
see  them  is  a  disappointment,  because  one 
would  expect  some  abnormal  exhibits  of  limbs 
and  organs,  but  they  show  a  proportion  which 
could  leave  nothing  to  hope  for  in  perfection. 

There  are  three  distinctive  features  which 
they  all  show.  The  first  of  these  is  their  hairy 
and  woolly  surface,  which  reaches  from  their 
breasts  down  to  the  base  of  the  abdomen. 
Their  legs  and  arms  are  also  over-grown  with 
a  plentiful  crop  of  black  wiry  wool.  The  sec- 
ond feature  is  the  eye,  which  has  a  slant  up- 
ward almost  like  the  Mongolian  type.  Their 
eyelashes  and  brows  derive  their  slant  from 
the  eye,  and  it  makes  them  look  weird  and  sus- 
picious. Whether  or  not  their  vision  is  affected 


260     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

by  the  shape  of  the  eye  I  have  not  ascertained, 
but  I  should  fancy  it  must  do  so,  because  their 
natural  position  is  contracted  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  pupils  are  thrown  out  of  line.     The 
third  and  the  most  appalling  feature  is  their 
upper  jaw.     This  feature  is  almost  apelike. 
The  upper  lip  is  stretched  almost  to  a  bursting 
point  over  their  prominent  jaw  and  upper  row 
of  teeth.     The  mouth  is  wide  and  reaches  al- 
most to  the  center  of  their  cheeks,  giving  their 
face  in  profile  a  monkeyish  expression.     The 
receding  nose  emphasizes  this  feature  through 
its  almost  flat  appearance,  with  widely  ex- 
tended nostrils.     The  upper  jawbone  stands 
out  like  a  round  fa9ade,  protruding  over  the 
under  jaw,  and  to  perfect  the  apish  appear- 
ance their  foreheads  are  low  and  slanting  in 
the  extreme.    It  spoils  the  effect  of  the  well- 
shaped  body  entirely,  and  were  it  not  for  that 
splendidly  formed  miniature  human  body  one 
would  imagine  that  their  protoparent,  at  least, 
was  allied  to  the  monkey.     Another  feature 
which  is,  however,  not  general  enough  to  make 
it  an  essential  characteristic,  is  the  light  com- 
plexion, especially  of  the  women.     Neverthe- 
less, I  should  say  that  50  per  cent  are  as  dark 
as  the  average  negro. 

Their  height  ranges  from  one  meter,  eight- 


THE  CONGO  261 

een  centimeters,  to  one  meter,  thirty-five. 
Among  the  women  there  seems  to  be 
an  unusual  breast  development,  which  be- 
gins at  an  early  age.  One  might  men- 
tion the  large,  almost  unproportioned  size  of 
their  buttocks,  which  was  noticeable  among 
the  specimens  we  saw.  That  also  seemed  to 
be  more  pronounced  among  the  women  than 
the  men.  However,  this  is  not  so  prominent 
a  variation  from  the  ordinary  negro  as  might 
be  imagined.  I  believe  that  most  of  the  black 
races  have  this  in  common,  and  I  would  think 
that  it  is  probably  a  result  of  carrying  children 
and  loads  of  food,  water  and  fuel,  a  burden 
which  bends  their  spines  in  order  to  keep  a 
balancing  position  when  they  are  marching. 
Sometimes  they  bear  this  double  load  for  hours 
and  for  days.  In  some  cases  a  load  is  so  great 
that  one  would  fear  inward  curvature  of  the 
spine.  The  top  of  the  head  of  the  Mambuti 
is  almost  flat,  more  so  among  the  women  than 
the  men.  This  might  be  explained  by  the  re- 
ceding forehead,  which  has  little  curve  to  off- 
set the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  fore- 
head and  the  upper  skull,  yet  the  lack  of  the 
sudden  curve  of  the  forehead  gives  them  a 
distinctly  flat-headed  appearance,  which  only 
a  full  crop  of  hair  may  give  a  different  look. 


262     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

Among  those  who  had  their  heads  shaven 
lately  the  flat  effect  suggested  itself  most 
strikingly. 

Their  minds  seem  to  be  proportioned  to  their 
bodies.    Their  mental  development  keeps  pace 
with  their  low  stature.     That,  in  particular, 
seems  to  be  the  cause  of  their  lack  of  desire 
and  absence  of  intention  to  ameliorate  their 
condition  in  life.     Socially  they  have  no  as- 
pirations, and  the  fact  that  they  are  so  small 
and  insignificant  appears  to  affect  their  deal- 
ings with  other  men  and  tribes.     They  even 
look  upon  the  Wanyari,  who  are  their  superi- 
ors in  height  only  by  a  few  inches,  as  almost 
perfect  types  of  men.     They  quickly  assume 
an  inferior  position  to  any  tribe  which  happens 
to  surround  them  or  to  border  on  their  fron- 
tiers.   Upon  these  neighbors  they  depend  for 
their  trading,  and  to  them  they  go  for  exchange 
of  food  in  return  for  their  ivory.    In  this  case 
they  hide  the  ivory  which  they  have  accumu- 
lated in  the  trunks  of  fallen  trees,  and  when 
they  need  food  they  make  a  bargain,  of  which 
the  other  party  always  gets  the  benefit.    They 
seem  to  look  upon  the  other  tribe  as  their 
patron,  if  not  protector,  when  they  go  out  into 
the  world  or  to  seek  the  society  of  other  tribes. 


BAGANDA  WOMEN  ARE  CLEVER  MAT  WEAVERS 
Using  shredded  palm  leaves  for  material 


THE  CONGO  263 

They  may  occasionally  be  seen  with  a  few 
necklaces,  armlets  or  rings,  but  these  are  all 
from  outside  markets,  and  they  are  principally 
trinkets  discarded  by  other  tribes. 

The  women  sometimes  wear  amulets  for 
definite  purposes.  One  is  the  thighbone  of 
a  rodent  found  in  the  forest.  This  amulet, 
when  worn  by  a  nursing  mother,  is  a  certain 
guarantee  of  plenty  of  milk  for  the  baby. 
Tails  of  certain  birds  are  worn  by  the  men  for 
protection  against  bronchial  trouble  and  pneu- 
monic diseases.  For  protection  against  the 
cold  they  have  only  their  scanty  huts  and  no 
clothing  whatsoever.  During  the  night  they 
cuddle  together  on  the  unyielding  ground  and 
pile  on  top  of  one  another  to  obtain  a  certain 
amount  of  warmth.  They  have  large  families. 
I  saw  one  family  of  four  children  and  spoke 
with  a  mother  who  had  raised  nine.  They  have 
great  respect  for  their  elders,  and  in  this  con- 
nection I  noticed  that  a  girl  whom  I  pushed 
ahead  to  lead  a  dance  withdrew,  made  place 
for  the  oldest  woman  in  the  party,  and  took  her 
own  place  near  the  rear  of  the  line.  The  same 
rank  was  in  order  with  the  men,  the  oldest 
always  in  the  lead,  and  when  he  fell  out  another 
gray-haired  elder  took  his  place.  When  we 


264     THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

went  to  their  forest  home  a  young  woodsman 
led  the  way,  but  he  withdrew  in  favor  of  the 
oldest  in  the  village,  who  led  us  on  and  found 
the  intricate  path  which  wound  its  way  to  their 
abode. 


THE   END 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


APR  2  8  1968 


ocr/n  ri)L.  Li3. 
r 


i968 


RECTO  COL  U& 


DEC  2  4 1968 

'  0  9  SO 

Book  Slip-35m-7,'63  (D8634s4)4280 


2  9  1969 


•HOV  |  8  - 


COL  ire.   , 


COL.  LIB. 

'$  1^ 

EB  2  3  19 


"2  6  '80  14  DAY 


JiH-   .9  '80  14  PAY 


L  005  767  463  2 


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UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY '  FACILlT 


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